Thrift Store Cowboys
Where: South Park Tavern, 1301 Wayne Ave., Dayton
When: 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4
Cost: $5
More info: (937) 586-9526 or www.southparktavern.com
Artist info: www.thriftstorecowboys.info.
Daniel Fluitt and Colt Miller have been playing music together since they were high school sophomores, but those experiences were only a prelude to the music they’d make as adults.
The longtime friends started their band Thrift Store Cowboys in Lubbock, Texas when they were 20-year-old college students. Now, Fluitt (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Miller (guitar, accordion, pedal steel) are in their early 30s and — along with bandmates Clint Miller (bass), Corey Ames (electric guitar, keyboards), Kris Killingsworth (drums, vocals) and Amanda Shires (vocals, fiddle) — are ushering in their second decade as a band with the exquisite new album, “Light-Fighter.”
“I had no idea we’d still be doing this,” Fluitt said, “and that’s the coolest part of it all.”
Thrift Store Cowboys have long been described as cinematic alt-country because of the sweeping ambient touches to the roots rock. The alternative tag fits, too, because songs can just as easily veer into roots-free blasts of indie rock or pure droney textures.
“When we first started out playing, we were really digging into Son Volt and Whiskey Town, so it was a lot more country,” Fluitt said. “Over the years it has kind of evolved into our own sound. It’s not like we go in and we have a set sound. Some songs just completely turn out more country and some songs completely turn out more rock, and there’s this vague line between all these different genres.”
Those disparate elements remain on “Light-Fighter,” but the Texas tone-wranglers added a bit more muscle to its sound by upping the rock quotient.
“This time we really wanted to achieve the sound we have when we play live,” Fluitt said. “It’s a little bit more energetic, and it has a lot more feeling behind it. We’ve had trouble capturing that type of sound on a CD, but I think this latest one is definitely the best representation of how we sounded live.”
Although Thrift Store Cowboys usually operate as a six-piece unit, the group will be stripped to the quartet of Fluitt, the Miller brothers and Killingsworth when it hits South Park Tavern on Thursday, Nov. 4.
“Sometimes we’re a four-piece, sometimes we’re a five-piece or a six-piece,” Fluitt said. “Our violin player, Amanda, lives in Nashville, and she has her own solo things, so there are some gigs she can’t make. We’ve always tried to be really flexible in terms of what size the room is or who’s playing with us, because it changes daily, and that keeps it exciting.”
Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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