What happens when a group of music business refugees decide to take a different route and play music for the love of it?
They form a band called the Continental Drifters, establish a dive-bar residency in Hollywood, and eventually are joined by more biz survivors who adapt their laissez faire approach to the art form that initially drew them into their professions – rock and roll.
From Los Angeles to New Orleans, White Noise & Lightning covers the trials, tribulations, joy, love, heartbreak, and surprising revival of an unlikely “super group” comprised of members of The Cowsills, The Bangles, R.E.M., The Dream Syndicate, Hootie & the Blowfish, The dB’s, and more as they navigate the difficult world of band life while juggling ambition, ambivalence, romance, addiction, and family.
Sean Kelly’s authorized biography of the Drifters tells the band’s story through extensive interviews with all ten of the musicians who were full-time members at various times, as well as a myriad of their colorful friends and cohorts, leaving no stone unturned in researching this rather extraordinary group of people and their quest for musical family during a journey one member likened to a “locomotive going down a hill.”
Sean Kelly is a musician, producer, and writer who spent nearly 20 years as the co-songwriter and singer of the band A Fragile Tomorrow. With his band, Sean toured internationally with the likes of Indigo Girls, Matthew Sweet, The Bangles, K’s Choice, and Toad the Wet Sprocket, and released seven albums. He currently serves as co-founding editor of The Savanahian, a nonprofit digital news publication in Savannah, Georgia, and composes music for independent films. He lives in Savannah with his wife, Kennedy, and their two children.
Pre-order White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story (book) and We Are All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters (album) here.
We’re All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters
Double CD • 25 Songs
We’re All Drifters: A Tribute to the Continental Drifters
Proceeds from Tribute CD sales will go to benefit the Wild Honey Foundation.
Disc 1
Don Dixon – The Mississippi
Rob Laufer – The Rain Song
Marshall Crenshaw – Darlin Darlin
Rosie Flores & the Talismen – Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway
Annette Zilinskas – Dallas
The Iguanas – Side Steppin’ the Fire
Tara Austin & Lyn Bertles – Tomorrow’s Gonna Be
Jolene – Spring Day in Ohio
Robbie Rist – Invisible Boyfriend
Candace Maché – Heart, Home
Equation – Don’t Do What I Did
Debbi Peterson & The Minus 5 – Who We Are
Disc 2
Annie Clements & the Auxiliary Drifters – Drifters
Danny McGough, Alex McMurray, and Glenn Hartman – Mezzanine
George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners – Peaceful Waking
Martha Gehman – Here I Am
Caitlin Cary – I Want To Learn To Waltz With You
Derrick Anderson – No One Cares
John Cowsill – Watermark
Kim Richey + Kettle of Hawks Snow
Steve Wynn – Green
Danielle Howle & Mark Bryan – Meet Me In The Middle
Dayna Kurtz & Robert Mache – Long While
Garrison Starr – Mixed Messages
Bobby Houck – Anything
