After collaborating last month for a benefit show in Columbus, local folk rockers Deadwood Floats and The Ridges return to the charity circuit.
The bands will play a benefit show Friday at Donkey Coffee and Espresso for Good Works Inc.’s Walk for the Homeless.
“This is our third year doing (the Good Works show),” said Johnny Barton, drummer for The Ridges. “We had to turn people away (last time) because it was at mass capacity.”
The Ridges were impressed with Deadwood Floats last month and decided to ask the group to play with them this weekend, Barton said.
Deadwood Floats recorded its most recent album, Provence, in December 2010 in Nashville, Tenn. The album was released last September, yet guitarist Adam Schutz said the shows convey its true sound best.
“We have changed our sound a lot in those nine months,” he said. “Our live shows are a lot more upbeat than our recordings.”
When Schutz and band member Drew Williams began playing together in high school, they didn’t intend to perform. They had an alternative rock band, but when they came to Ohio University, they switched to a style that more accurately reflects their tastes and added four members.
“We used to hang out in the ravine behind (percussionist Joal Art’s) house, floating down the creek or sitting around under the trees,” Williams said. “‘Deadwood floats’ was just an off-the-cuff comment that Joel made one day, and (Schutz) thought it would be a good name for a folk band.”
The name stuck with Schutz, and when they picked a band name, he remembered.
“I thought to myself, ‘If I ever form a folk band I should name it that,’ and we did,” he said.
Friday’s show will start at 8 p.m. and will charge a $3 cover.
wh092010@ohiou.edu
