If is hard to think of an artist like Drayton Farley that has ever played C2C before - sure there have been other singer songwriters but normally that has been because they have had to leave their regular band behind - Drayton is totally at east playing solo and in a break with tradition he might just have something to say about things!!!
#TEAMw21 may as well come clean and admit that nearly sharing the same surname was what originally piqued our interest in Drayton, but the more research we did the more we liked what we heard!
This Alabama native has a line in honesty that runs through his material and a voice that richly brings what he singing into a vivid gritty reality. A man that can open a song as Drayton does on the "Trouble In The Pines" is someone that is going to demand and hold your attention, as you wait to see what happens next.
"I went down to the river today
I met a man laid out on the bank
A slug in his head, hole in his faith
The gun in his hand, look on his face"
Dip into his catalogue anywhere and you get deep descriptive writing, his most streamed song is "Pitchin' Fits" which manages to combine the darkness of being in a bad place but being able to find solace in the one person able to alleviate that gloom
"Tell me I'm not crazy and we all feel like this
I've been so down here lately
Tell me I'm just pitchin' fits
'Cause it's a long and hurtful phase
And I don't know if I belong here at all
But when I'm here with you I don't mind at all"
You can't help but feel that Drayton's "American Dream" is going to be unlike any other performers across the whole C2C weekend, yet it will be a definitely be a compelling listen
"I'm a just keep watching, I think my heart's stopping
Nicotine fiend of a man
I was born this way, I'm a government slave
And I was raised on stolen land
And it's a hard up kinda life
Begging the ashtray for nickels and dimes
Writing these songs trying to wrap my mind around
A bullshit American dream"
Drayton's material draws you further and further in to his world - hear one and you are instantly drawn to the next and it is this quality that has qualified him to our "Who To See" list.
Drayton Farley plays
Friday The Wayside Stage 16:00
Friday The Barrelhouse 17:40
Saturday The Saloon 10:30!!
Saturday The Bluebird Cafe at C2C with Greylan James & Zandi Holup