Last Friday Night
GFATS at Meeting Street music festival
Join the band at this year’s Meeting Street Music Festival in West Columbia, SC. This FREE event features several stages, and the band will close out the Sunset Stage at 6:40pm, Saturday September 7. More info here: https://www.meetingstreetmusicfest.com
GFATS RETURNS TO NEW BROOKLAND TAVERN July 18
Put simply, without New Brookland Tavern, Columbia’s music scene would be very very different. It’s often the first place a young band can find their footing, and it fosters music of any style, genre, or audience. With its move to Five Points in early 2024, the next era of New Brookland Tavern has begun. We’re excited to perform with longtime staples E.Z. Shakes, as well as GFATS offshoot TenMileRide.
Check out our last performance at New Brookland Tavern, August 30, 2019!
ANNOUNCING “LET THE WORDS BE YOURS” by TENMILERIDE
Out everywhere Friday, May 3, TenMileRide (featuring Charles, Fenech, and Fetner of GFATS plus Todd Edmunds on bass) releases their debut album “Let the Words Be Yours.” Spanning 43 minutes, “Let the Words Be Yours” intertwines themes from iconic Grateful Dead songs such as "West L.A. Fadeaway," "China Cat Sunflower," and "Franklin's Tower" with expansive improvisations that explore other familiars like "Dark Star," "Shakedown Street," and "I Know You Rider." This unique fusion of familiar melodies with unrestrained improvisation promises to captivate both die-hard Deadheads and newcomers alike.
LIVE FROM FR8yard Now available
Released Friday, December 1. Visit bandcamp.com to purchase the album in digital or CD formats and stream wherever you listen to music! Tracked live by GFATS keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer Moses Andrews, III the album showcases the band’s signature vibe, weaving through six covers and originals of different musical styles with the momentum of a nine piece band. Live from FR8yard was mixed and mastered by Zac Thomas (Kylesia, Florida Man, She Returns From War) at Columbia’s Jam Room Recording Studio.
COLUMBIA - FIRST THURSDAY September 7
GFATS takes the stage at Boyd Plaza for a FREE First Thursday on Main show. 7:30pm. All Ages.
GFATS Returns to Charleston Pour House
Catch the band on the deck stage Saturday, July 29 at 5:30pm. GFATS plays the deck in support of Cirlces Around the Sun and Dan Horne Band (inside stage). More info here: GFATS at Charleston Pour House
Parachutes > Scarlet Begonias, Return to Greenville
Check out this pro-shot video from Fall for Greenville 2022. GFATS returns to Greenville Thursday, July 13 for the Downtown Alive series. FREE and TWO SETS!
GFATS Returns to St. Pat’s in Five Points - March 18, 2023
TICKETS HERE
Audience Recordings via Live Music Archive
Now you can listen to full shows, warts and all, at the Live Music Archive. GFATS will add new audience recordings and publish more shows from the band’s archive.
Check out more here: https://archive.org/details/GeorgeFetnerAndTheStrays
Trek up to higher ground on 6/24 and 6/25!
poster by cait maloney
Check out “The Tighten Up”
live from the Charleston Pour House on May 7, 2022
Mardi Gras, St. Pat’s, No Simple Road
It’s 2022, y’all, and we’re starting the year off with a bang!
St. Pat’s in Five Points is BACK on March 19! We’re pleased to announce we’ll be joining the ranks on the Fox 102.3 & Alt 99.7 stage with BLUES TRAVELER. Get your tickets HERE.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, GFATS makes its fourth appearance at the annual Mardi Gras Festival at City Roots in Columbia, SC. BE THERE! The DIY, fun-for-all vibe is why this continues to be our favorite way to kick off the new year. More info HERE.
Released January 27, George sat down with the kind folks at No Simple Road to talk about Merry Run Around, life for musicians during the pandemic, and lots more. Stream it wherever you listen to podcasts and find more about the show HERE.
MERRY RUN AROUND AVAILABLE NOW
Art by Thomas McElwee
GFATS returns with a tribute to their roots in Merry Run Around, a collection of songs from the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia catalogs. Tracked live by Matt Buck at 2020’s virtual Jerry Fest in Columbia, SC the album showcases bright new arrangements of Dead favorites augmented by GFATS’ signature horn sound. Merry Run Around was mixed and mastered by Zac Thomas (Kylesia, Florida Man, She Returns From War) at Columbia’s Jam Room Recording Studio.
Assembling a group of nine musicians for a brief, albeit live appearance proved challenging during the pandemic, but it’s a testament to the band’s hard work and musicality that they could nail a one-off broadcast given those constraints. George remembers that evening:
“Performing music is like dreaming, getting lost in conversation, or anything where you feel the pull of time so viscerally that you begin to operate outside of it. Our set was no exception, but to suddenly be in the middle of making music after not being able to for so long was almost unbearably joyful. By the time we began our last song, “Sugaree,” I was so emotional that I almost couldn't sing. Ultimately we were honored to help the show go on, so to speak, even if that meant us traveling to our audience rather than the audience traveling to us.
“Take their rendition of “They Love Each Other,” which is where the album draws its name. After establishing the song’s familiar groove, a stone-cold saxophone solo pulls the tune into its middle improv section, where Moses Andrews’ organ takes the audience to church before handing things off to Fetner for another lengthy six-string workout and then pulling things all back in again for a swoonful conclusion. It’s both utterly unlike anything you would ever hear at a Dead concert and yet wonderfully, soothingly familiar to fans and newcomers alike.” - Kyle Petersen, Free Times
