Album Review – The Lowdown Drifters – “In Time”

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#560 & #564 (Country Rock, Alt-Country) on the Country DDS.

The Lowdown Drifters are your favorite band’s favorite band. “Big” John Cannon is your favorite frontman’s favorite frontman. If you see someone with a Lowdown Drifters shirt or hat on, you know you’ve found a friend. If you see a Lowdown Drifters sticker on the club’s bathroom wall, you know you’ve found a friendly place. That’s the kind of band The Lowdown Drifters are. They’re part of your musical family, even if you’re just finding out about them right now.

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, but now based in Fort Worth, TX, The Lowdown Drifters have opened and played with just about everyone, helping to draw locals to countless artists as they came through town on their way up. Often those artists then return the favor when they make it to the top. There’s a reason Lowdown celebrated the release of their new album In Time opening for Shane Smith and the Saints at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

Country rock is the best way to describe what The Lowdown Drifters throw down. It’s rock with a fiddle and some steel guitar, and a deeper focus on songwriting. And if you’re a rock band with a fiddle, you should probably work with the producer who works best in that medium. In the case of The Lowdown Drifters and their new album In Time, that’s Oklahoma’s Wes Sharon, know for putting the spit polish on all those great Turnpike Troubadours records.

Early Lucero wouldn’t be a terrible comparison to The Lowdown Drifters sound, including the raspy vocals of Big John. But over time they’ve gone from a scrappy regional band touring the United States best compared to others, to a success story of dogged perseverance and sweat equity that are now only fair to compare to themselves.

Perhaps some of what’s held The Lowdown Drifters back a bit over the last few years is focusing more on singles and EP releases. They’ve done well, including their song “Fire In Her Eyes” finding a little viral success. But shorter releases don’t always have the heft to break out into the greater musical conversation like a strong full-length album. In Time might only be eight tracks, but eight is enough when they come with the power and potency of these songs, making for an advantageous entry point with this band.


The moody sound of The Lowdown Drifters compliments songs about rocky relationships and life on the road. Any musical outfit is automatically given an extra layer of legitimacy when a woman is in the lineup, and singer/bass player Raina Wallace allows the love and heartbreak songs of the Drifters to be told from both perspectives, like on the track “Awful Truth.”

The songs of In Time feel lived, not imagined, and well-seasoned in sweaty bars played for wild crowds. The songs of the Lowdown Drifters have always been good. But it’s the greater attention to detail via In Time that graduates them to great.

It’s the little half time moments in certain songs. It’s the way the solos hit right at the most opportune times, including a killer piano solo from Drew Harakal, known for playing with Cody Jinks. It’s the way their cover of Hellbound Glory’s “Streets of Aberdeen,” and the final song “Trucker Speed” are set just a beat or two slower than you might expect, drawing the emotion out of the lyrics, and allowing them to be more than just another song. They put you right in the moment.

The Lowdown Drifters are journeymen musicians that were too stubborn to quit until they made it. Now that more people are finally paying attention to real music and real songs, they offer up a timely LP that should put them in the national conversation where they belong.

1 3/4 Guns Up (8.1/10)

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The Lowdown Drifters are “Big” John Cannon on vocals and guitar, Dylan Welsh on lead guitar, Raina Wallace on bass, Josh Willaert on drums, and Doug Rehfeldt on the fiddle. 

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