Ted Drozdowski’s Coyote Motel Follows ‘The River’

For the past several years, it’s felt like you have to keep track of a million minute details in order to feel at all informed about what’s going on in our world. That’s been especially true during the pandemic, whose grim one-year milestone we mark in this week’s Scene cover story. Time feels completely, unsettlingly elastic. In that light, it feels appropriate to have a reminder of the big picture — to get to see time at a vast scale.

In February 2020, just before everything started to change, singer-guitarist and sometime Scene contributor Ted Drozdowski and his band Coyote Motel recorded a live set at The 5 Spot, which was released in November as Still Among the Living. Contributor Edd Hurt pointed out the way the LP nods to jazz fusion as much as it does to electric blues; Ron Wynn also noted the way the group’s experimental edge pushes the work toward metal, while singer Luella helps conjure the spirit of late hill country blues singer Jessie Mae Hemphill. 

You can hear all of those elements at work in “The River,” a subtly psychedelic blues cut from the album that meanders a bit but keeps a steady pace. The lyrics point out the vast amount of human drama that plays out over the centuries along the banks of a mighty river — yet all the while the water keeps rolling along, unaffected. It’s a little spooky to think about something that makes you feel that small. In a way, it’s also comforting: You can take it as a reminder that this infernal pandemic, too, will one day be history.

Today, we’re very pleased to premiere director Dave Arcari’s music video for the song, featuring some long, contemplative shots of some foreboding riverside landscapes. Check it out above, and visit Drozdowski’s website for more.