The year gone by has been big for the Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men, their biggest yet. On Halloween, the Americana rockers opened for Brothers Comatose on the main stage of the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, around two years after singer-guitarist Kellen Coffis saw Salinas native/jam band hero Jackie Greene play the same stage.
On Nov. 28, things got more surreal when The Coffis Brothers opened for Greene at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore. The cosmic musical trip comes full circle in March 2015, when they open for Greene at the Catalyst.
But first is Big Sur this Saturday, and First Night Monterey on New Year’s Eve (see story, p. 38).
The five-piece group, out of the miniature town of Ben Lomond in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is an amalgamation of Whiskeytown, Traveling Wilburys and early-’60s straight-ahead rock. The outfits’ rootsy 2014 record Wrong Side of the Road is a melody-driven fiesta. Tight harmonies fuel the ’70s AM Gold throwback “The Hardest Thing,” while “Runaways” emits a somber Lonestar flicker just bright enough to spark Willie Nelson’s joint. The Southern California country rock-tinged “Waiting for You” could be a deep cut off of a long lost Mudcrutch record, with lyrics that carry an authentic simple and bright Tom Petty sensibility: “We go down together we’ll make it whatever we choose/ We go down forever cause ain’t got nothing else to lose.”
As Santa Cruz natives, playing the Catalyst was a big accomplishment, but as rock fans, playing The Fillmore – where everyone from Hendrix to the Dead to Miles Davis performed – was a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming moment.
The Coffis Brothers appear there again in February 2015, opening for the bluegrass collective Poor Man’s Whisky.
Also in 2014, the group executed a sold out Tribute to the Everly Brothers at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz and went on their longest tour, three-week jaunt through Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Washington and Alaska.
“It’s another step forward,” Kellen says.
They’ve started planning for a bigger 2015. Kellen says the band will find out in early January whether they’ve been selected to play prominent music fests like Hardly Strictly and Outside Lands.
Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men 10pm Saturday, Dec. 27. Fernwood, 47200 Highway 1, Big Sur. Free. 667-2422. First Night Monterey. 9:15pm and 10:15pm Wednesday, Dec. 31. Alvarado Street Rabobank Stage, downtown Monterey. www.firstnightmonterey.org
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