Driftwood built nearly two decades of loyal following by turning folk rock into something that feels communal rather than performative. Their live shows have been called “effervescent, twang-studded musical parties,” and the Binghamton-rooted five-piece has the catalog and the chemistry to back that up. They play Buffalo Iron Works on Saturday, December 19.
About the Show
The band arrives on the heels of December Last Call, their sixth studio album and first in five years. Self-produced and crowd-funded, the record was recorded in Joe Kollar’s basement — the same space where Kollar and Dan Forsyth first started making music as high schoolers in Binghamton — and released in March 2024. The songwriting reflects on “recent past” experiences including new parenthood and pandemic shutdowns, per the band. No Depression called it “as crystal clear and expertly mixed as any studio-produced album could be,” even with the DIY approach.
What keeps a Driftwood show moving is the three-way songwriting and vocal rotation among Kollar, Forsyth, and violinist Claire Byrne, with bassist Joey Arcuri and drummer Sam Fishman rounding out the lineup. As Glide Magazine put it, the male/female interplay is what “really sets Driftwood apart.” Byrne contributes songs of her own, including “Just a Kid” and “Up All Night Blues,” which explore adolescent uncertainty and motherhood, respectively. December Last Call runs that dynamic across nine tracks, from the barroom-singalong energy of “Every Which Way But Loose” (Glide compared it to Eric Clapton’s Slowhand) to the Springsteen-inflected road narrative of “Continental Lincoln,” to the nearly 12-minute album closer “Stardust.” The band has performed at Levon Helm’s Woodstock barn; the December Last Call material belongs on stages of that weight.
The Buffalo show closes a fall/winter run that includes festival dates in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, club stops in Vermont and New Hampshire, and a night at the Center for the Arts of Homer in Homer, N.Y., on December 18. They are, as the band puts it, “basically a beautiful friendship that happens to play music” — and two decades of touring have turned that friendship into one of the more cohesive live units in upstate New York’s folk scene.
Venue & Logistics
Buffalo Iron Works is a 500-capacity club at 49 Illinois St. in western New York. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show. The event is 18+.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets are on sale via Eventim with all-in pricing per New York State law. Buy tickets