The Ventucky Hayride returns! This is going to be a special reunion of the Ventucky String Band, the Matters, and a whole bunch of Ventura & So Cal pals along with The Driftless Revelers (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) -- bluegrass, western swing, freak folk, alt.country, and string band music. More Info on the Bands:
The Ventucky String Band:
Like a jukebox of old 78 records, The Ventucky String Band is reminiscent of a time when Texas Swing still dominated the AM radio airwaves, and Bluegrass music was as novel as the arrival of television.
Formed in 2010, this highly skilled multi-instrumental string-band features Matt Sayles, Dave White, and Rick Clemens blending three part harmonies and original songwriting into a sound that harkens back to the golden age of country music, and the roots of the country and western sound of the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's.
Members of the Band have toured internationally, and have enjoyed appearances on the Wheeling West Virginia Jamboree (WWVA), as well as performances with Bluegrass, Country, Western Swing & Cajun legends like Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Asleep at the Wheel, Larry Sparks, Doyle Lawson, the Bellamy Brothers, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys and Hot Club of Cowtown.
Where some have tried to diminish Ventura as “Ventucky,” this band sees their name not as a veiled jab at Bluegrass music or the city that brought them together— but instead as a tribute to the music and culture of the farmers, roustabouts, and cattlemen that helped grow the city during the early days of big-oil and agriculture in Ventura County.
Typical sets can vary from 1930’s Jazz & Bluegrass, to cowboy ballads & honky-tonk—all seamlessly woven together with original songwriting that draws inspiration from the deep well-spring of American roots music.
The Driftless Revelers:
The Driftless Revelers formed in the second spring of the first global pandemic of the 21st century, with one ear turned toward the shellac platters and Victrola virtuosos of the early to mid 20th century, and the other ear glued to the soundscapes of the 1960's & 1970's American freak-folk scene.
Since their debut tour in 2021, the band has billed with Grammy winning bluegrass legends like Tim O'Brien & the Gibson Brothers, toured extensively throughout the Upper Midwest performing with other amazing artists like Big Richard, Willy Tea Taylor, Davey Allen & the Midnights, and had breakout performances at several festivals and events (Sol Grass Music Festival, Mile of Music in Appleton, WI. featured in Rolling Stone Magazine).
These Eau Claire, Wisconsin based weirdos have earned a cult following of devoted fans from Minnesota to Michigan who appreciate their irreverent, highly original, and sometimes slightly psychedelic interpretation of American roots music with a Midwest twist. Their live show banter and thoroughly entertaining sets have earned them comparisons to Ween, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, They Might be Giants, Tenacious D, Cheech & Chong, and the Holy Modal Rounders. Their debut record, American Fork Standards (2022), was well received by their family members, and a few other people who said nice things about it. Their most recent record, Live at the Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret (2024) captures the band's deadpan comedy and musical chops in a lounge environment that demands a proper listen in a leisure suit with a scotch & Pall Mall.
Featuring the original songwriting of Ben Nelson, Matthew R. Sayles, and Jerod Kaszynski, the Driftless Revelers will pleasure a crowd with plectral wah pedal banjo tones, the mournful wailing of resophonic steel guitars, and the up-right bass bellows of an era that can't quite be defined, but revels in the timeless ephemera of weird old-time American music.
With influences as varied and eccentric as a proper musty smelling thrift store record collection, the band grooves merrily through early roots blues and jazz music, to hillbilly and string band howlers, all the way into the not-quite folk but not-quite psychedelic realms of their own creation.
A Driftless Revelers show will lure you in with their joy--keep you dancing with their search for the cosmic groove in the confines of stringed instruments--and will send you on your way with flashbacks of the Driftless Revelry found only in the essence of the intangible reaches of notes once played-- that then fall silent.
https://www.philvillerecords.com/thedriftlessrevelers
RJ Bloke Review of new album Hold Drugs Dear:
https://beardedgentlemenmusic.com/2025/01/13/rj-bloke-hold-drugs-dear-album-review/
The Matters:
Formed in 2015, The Matters is an Alt.Country Roots music duo featuring Matt Cadenelli (Don of Division Street, Drunken Prayer, and Fernando) and Matt Sayles (Ventucky String Band, Frostbitten Grass) performing original music and roots Country, Rock, Blues, and Soul. The duo have toured Nationally, and have shared the stage with country legends like Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Asleep at the Wheel, and founding members of The Decemberists-- and a long list of other amazing artists.
Their shows weave powerful vocals and vocal harmonies with masterful guitar and dobro playing, with original songwriting and covers that vary from Wilco,Uncle Tupelo, Neil Young, Duane Allman, and John Prine.
The Detroit Sportsmen's Congress
The Detroit Sportsmen's Congress is a non-democratically elected representative delegation of roots-music musicians founded in 2015 by current House Speaker, Matthew Sayles, and former Majority Whip, Ralph Lowi.
Though qualifications for membership in the DSC are deliberately byzantine and obscure, it is rumored that casual fandom of Detroit athletic associations and support for alternative forms of country music are desired, but not required, for representative status. Prior status as a trapper or "puller" of clay-pigeons is also taken into consideration as a qualifying factor for non-elected representation. Membership of the DSC is deliberately flexible as representation can grow and decrease based on periodic census gathering and caucusing.
Their Mission: "To draw out the echoing twang, reverb, and darkness from the smoldering remnants of manifest destiny that still mournfully beat in the hearts of our unknowing constituency."
Event Venue
Topa Topa Brewing Company (Ventura Headquarters + Brewery), 4880 Colt St, Ventura, CA 93003-7730, United States
