Words and Photos by: Jerry Friend
Drive By Truckers with Buffalo Nichols The Ramkat 11.10.2021
On a an otherwise calm and relatively quiet Wednesday night in Winston Salem, over 500 Drive By Truckers fans, who call themselves heathens, many of them loyal followers of the band going on twenty years spilled into The Ramkat to enjoy "The Rock Show"
The Rock Show, is what the DBT declare their live performances as because they bring their own version of loud, distorted, echoed and sustained notes ringing into the ears of their audiences each night to energetic crowds. This is what their fans keep coming back to experience.
This night Patterson Hood reminds the crowd that this isn't their first trip to the area they had played there about twenty years to the date at the old Ziggy's. They had also played at the Ramkat when it was first opened as the "new" Ziggy's location and were happy to be back to perform that night.
The Ramkat is a great room for a show, with a large floor space that is general admission, that has a couple of bars, and even a tiered riser section side stage, plus another riser in the back with a few reserved seats too. There's also a second floor area with tables for people wanting reserved seats. Anywhere in the space is a good spot to enjoy the show. And there's an outdoor area for smoking within the venue.
Buffalo Nichols, opened the show with a solo set to get the crowd warmed up. He's a blues and folk singer born in Houston, but raised in Milwaukee. Nichols is a fingerpicker and slide guitar player and singer songwriter helping to keep the Blues genre alive and in front of audiences.
The Truckers came out swinging and smiling, the crowd embraced the performance right from the first riffs and the energy in the room grew with each song played. By the end of the night the band had played some rarities, jumped through fan favorites and accomplished to their goal of bringing "The Rock Show" back out on the road to their faithful audience. Their tour continues through the Dirty South including a sold out performance at the storied venue Tipatinas in New Orleans Saturday November 20th
