Music of the Mountains: Connor Dady of Cottonwood Drifters

In 2011, Connor Dady moved away from his roots in Rochester, New York, and settled down in Denver, Colorado. Around the same time, Dan Williams moved to Denver from Austin, Texas, and both he and Dady happened to land a job as arborists for the same company.

As they talked, they realized they shared a similar interest in music, both performing occasionally in local open mics on their own time. Getting to know each other more, they started performing together through open mics and jams among friends, sharing their music tastes with each other.

Their chemistry continued to develop as they kept performing together. Around 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the two decided to look for other musicians to flesh out their sound and book more gigs. By the end of 2020, the group had acquired an upright bass player, a fiddle player, and a dobro player, booking gig opportunities in Denver.

Since 2021, the band, now named Cottonwood Drifters, has cycled through various lineups to find a group of people who could share their artistic talents individually while also working towards common goals together.

Dady and Williams are the consistent core members and songwriters, with Dady playing acoustic guitar, Williams playing mandolin (which he learned online during COVID) and occasionally Irish tenor banjo, and both singing lead vocals.

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