The Headliners Who Went on at 6 PM:The Drams at Manitowoc's MetroJam, Saturday, June 18, 2007

I almost didn’t go down to MetroJam early enough, but in many ways, the 6 o’clock set by the Drams is the headliner in my memory of the evening. Formed out of the dust of Slobberbone, Brent Best leads this group in finding the AltCountry groove, and in Manitowoc, they proved to be one of the hardest working bands—delivering the goods to a rather quiet crowd of the late afternoon variety. While the teenagers and twenty-somethings waited for Stroke 9 and Nine Days, in my mind, the Drams were who deserved our attention.

With road trip, roadhouse music made for flying over the overpasses too fast late at night, the Drams drive their sound out from Son Volt and Jay Farrar garages. Chad Stockslager wheels out that Wilco R&B soul swagger with his keyboard work. Best’s snarled anthemic voice arrives from the parking lot it shares with Tim Lee.

They actually conjured up a feeling reminiscent of what the Bottle Rockets brought to Washington Park and MetroJam two years ago. As shown on the Drams’ last two songs, that slam down country rocking does our community good.

Listening to last year’s Jubilee Drive does a fine job at delivering some of that same live sound from the Drams while highlighting their range. These songs don’t move at the same pace and fall into set patterns. Instead, each song is a discovery of story and melody—just check out the redemptive qualities of “Wonderous Light.”

Thanks to the Drams for their help. And thanks to the organizers of Metro Jam for another incredible event. If you’re a musician, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, should be on your list of places to play!