The Farewell Drifters - Yellow Tag Mondays (2010)

When the Farewell Drifters formed, the idea was to graft bluegrass instrumentation and energy to Beach Boys-styled studio pop, or at least aim in that direction, and the band has pretty much done that, putting them in the Fleet Foxes/Mumford & Sons/Avett Brothers neo-folk-rock corner of the block, albeit with that bluegrass element still in there. The group had its beginning when lead singer Zach Bevill and mandolinist Joshua Britt discovered a mutual love of '60s pop and began writing and performing together, bringing in Clayton Britt, Joshua's brother, along with violinist Christian Sedelmyer and bassist Dean Marold to round things out after a move to Nashville. The Farewell Drifters developed a sound that definitely wouldn't get them kicked off a bluegrass stage, but with songs that were melodically and lyrically structured more like classic pop. The group released Yellow Tag Mondays in 2010 and followed it with Echo Boom in 2011, both on Heart Squeeze Records, before signing with Compass Records and releasing Tomorrow Forever in 2014.