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Spring/Summer 2009:
 Jazzfest, Jazzfest, how great thou art!
4/24/09
was a memorable day for the HGD. Thanks so much to Quint
and his Fesitval Production staff for booking us, Doug
and Elliot at the Times Picayune for the great
publicity, and Chuck and his crew at the Fais Do Do
stage, and ALL the great fans who came to the early show
on the first day!
We had such a GREAT time! The set was high energy
bluegrass and all the guys played off the energy of the
crowd, THANKS AGAIN, EVERYBODY! And, to top it all
off, David Fricke, Senior Music Writer at Rolling Stone
magazine, has recommended our new CD as one of his
Fricke's Picks in the new issue - RS Issue 1079.
 What
an honor to see the bands name in Rolling Stone!
Excerpt from "Fricke's Picks":
Crescent City Grass
Bluegrass bands are as rare in New Orleans as high
ground, so the Jazz Fest debut of the High Ground
Drifters was an opening day surprise. The quintet come
from the town's Mid-City neighborhood but shuffled
covers (Bill Monroe, Django Reinhardt) and originals
("Hellbender" "Jack 'n the Bull") with plenty of
Kentucky in the bravado and no slack. Get more of these
good times on The High Ground Drifters, the group's
self-released first album.
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Fall/Winter 2008:
The boys are continuing on their ever steepening climb to fame
and notoriety. Last weekend found us performing for a Japanese
TV show crew filming in Fortier Park, playing with sub-Drifter
Tom and his dog Pickle. It was fun and a nice crowd gathered to
enjoy the spectacle.
The HGD headlined the Steam Train Festival in Audubon Park in
October 2008. There were trains, bluegrass music and a lot of
fest goers enjoying the beautiful October weekend. We hope
that the Steam Train Fest becomes an annual event. We have
submitted our application to appear on a Jazz Fest stage next
year. Tell Quint, whenever you see him, to put us on the bill
And last but never least...The big news for us has been the
arrival of Paul IV, son of Paul and Hailey. We're all
proud of how well the family is adjusting to the addition.
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Spring/Summer
2008:
The HGD had a good Spring. We played new venues like the
Thursdays at Twilight at City Park, Trinity Church Sunday
Series, The Abita Springs Opry, the WTUL Hootenanny, and various
other events. We continue our 2nd Saturday of each month show at
the Neutral Ground.
This Fall we are working on playing at the Ogden Museum Thursday
night gig, the Steamtrain Festival, as well as some bar dates.
The HGD is embarking on a concerted effort we call "Journey to
Jazzfest". Our plan is to use Shock 'n Awe Bluegrass shows
to force Quint to book us for the 2009 show. That and we will be
pushing Offbeat Magazine to establish a best bluegrass band in
New Orleans award...that we hope to be honored in.
Our CD is coming along and we are anticipating an August
release. We are looking to play the La. Music Factory to promote
that, as well as get some airplay on local and wider area radio.
Also, our videographer nonpariel, Andrew Pellett, has completed
the High Ground Drifters Grassumentary called "Adrift in New
Orleans." He's proud of his work, we're proud of our part in it,
and hope he's nominated for an Oscar so we get to party with Ann
Hathaway. We're looking forward to several opportunities to
showcase Andy's singular work on a bluegrass band in N'Awlin's.
Who's knows, we might be on XM by this time next year!!
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Fall/Winter 2007: A very
busy weekend for the Drifters. We played the Trinity Church's
Bach Around the Clock on Saturday afternoon. Sandwiched in
between a Men's Choral Group and a Classical Horn Ensemble, we
"departed" from Bach and took the audience on a Bluegrass ride!
They enthusiastically came along and we enjoyed ourselves in
that beautiful building a second time. Albinas and Manon have
been kind early backers of the HGD's.
Sunday morning, the guys stoked themselves on various caffeine-
laced concoctions and we rolled into WWOZ to play on Hazel's
Bluegrass Show. This was a big deal for the HGD's, a world-wide
coming out party through the station's internet stream. We
picked four good tunes and played them hard, fast, and well!
MVP of he 'OZ gig was Paul, who broke a string about 4 notes
into the first song. He didn't miss a beat.
HGD's are aiming towards some dates poppin' up around Jazzfest
time frame. Keep checking our calendar for latest gig
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