The Lowdown Drifters ride into region

Published 3:00 am Wednesday, August 9, 2023

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CANYON CITY — The historic Sels’ Brewery opens again this month for a live concert on Friday, Aug. 18.

Doors open at 5 p.m. This event is for age 21 and older.

Tickets are $10 (plus $2.51 service charge) on eventbrite.com or find the link on the Facebook page for the Whiskey Gulch Gang.

Tickets may be available at the door for $15, but advance purchases are encouraged.

Local band The James Gang opens the show at 6 p.m., followed by The Lowdown Drifters around 8 p.m.

About the band

The Lowdown Drifters were founded in Washington in 2015, but the band is now based out of Fort Worth, Texas.

They tour nationally, and front singer Big John Cannon said they arrange their schedule to play northern states in the summer, then stay around the south in the winter.

“We tour as much as we can,” he said.

They play between 50 and 80 shows a year.

“And maybe more than that, with acoustic or trios,” he said.

Their schedule ranges from up to six weeks on the road, to long weekends playing closer to home.

After their show in Canyon City, The Lowdown Drifters will head to Helix to play in the Wheatstock Music Festival.

The band has released three albums, and plans to head back to the studio later this year. Cannon said their Spotify channel averages 500,000 listeners every month.

Sels’ Brewery is typically open to the public only once a year, for the annual ’62 Days celebration held every June in Canyon City.

This year, the venue will be open three times: ’62 Days, a concert on Aug. 18, and Oktoberfest on Sept. 16.

At one time or another, the brewery housed a barbershop, post office and a mechanic shop. It’s named for German immigrant F.C. Sels, who followed gold fever to the area and, among other enterprises, established the brewery in 1872. Sels also served as justice of the peace and postmaster.

The Whiskey Gulch Gang was formed in 1922 and bought the brewery building in 1972.  Sels Brewery is at 113 S. Washington St. in Canyon City, just one block east of Highway 395, at the southeast corner of Izee and Washington streets.

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