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Continental Drifters, performing at the Nick. Rock/country/soul
Peter Holsapple . . . . . keyboards/vocals/guitar/accordian
Vicki Peterson . . . . . guitar/vocals
Susan Cowsill . . . . . vocals/guitar
Carlo Nuccio . . . . . drums/vocals
Mark Walton . . . . . bass
Robert Mache . . . . . guitar
3 1/2 stars
The notes are not always clean. The voices are sometimes ragged and flat. Playing can be a tad sloppy.
But Continental Drifters know that feeling and enthusiasm can cover small mistakes.And the New Orleans-based band have feeling and enthusiasm to spare.
The Drifter's show Thursday night at the Nick was everything you'dexpect from a group that make music simply for the joy of playing together. Even the stumbles are fun and part of the band's we're-in-this-together attitude.
With former members of the Bangles, the dBs, the Cowsills and Dream Syndicate, there was about a century's worth of musical talent on stage. Everyone sings; most of the six-member group writes songs and the two-hour, two-set show wandered confidently down the musical highway, making worthwhile stops in rock,country, soul and pop.
Vocalist/keyboardist Peter Holsapple, founder of the dBs, is partial to soul and lent his voice to the Box Tops' "Soul Deep" as well as his own "Darling,Darling," a rip-your-voice-out bit of blues that he dedicated to the late Eddie Hinton of Muscle Shoals.
Vocalist/guitarist and former Bangle Vicki Peterson leans to pop. With the strongest voice of the group, she shined on her own "Mixed Messages," the bluesy "Christopher Columbus" and the psychedelic "Who We Are, Where We Live."
Country-rock is the comfort zone for drummer/vocalist Carlo Nuccio, who has worked with Tori Amos and Pat McLaughlin and was one of the original Subdudes. With a John Belushi glint in his eyes, he commanded the emotions of "Mezzanine" and "Sidestepping the Fire," both of which could've been long lost Band songs. He also got goofy on the swampy romp of "Johnny Whoops," whose title is based on the children's game.
Susan Cowsill, from the '60s singing family and Holsapple's wife, showed the greatest emotional range, going from the quiet desperation of "I Can't Make It Alone" to the frustrated resignation of "When It Rains" to the angry cynicism of "Get Over It."
Ensemble playing, though, is the heart of the Drifters, a fact highlighted in the second set, which included several excellent cover tunes, including the Monkees' "Some of Shelley's Blues," "Soul Deep" and Crazy Horse's "Look at All the Things That I Got." The harmonies of Peterson and Cowsill were picture-perfect on Alive & Kicking's "Tighter, Tighter" and Tyrone Davis' "Turn Back the Hands of Time."
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