Driftless Dreamers: In Cuca Country stands apart from the plethora of reissues and anthologies Chicago archival label Numero Group has thus far derived from its acquisition of Sauk City, Wisconsin’s prolific Cuca Records. Within its nearly overwhelming assemblage of country, rockabilly, variants and derivatives of folk and birdcalls of species native to Wisconsin, the 32-track collection commences straightforwardly enough as an anthology of rural (mostly) Badger State sounds recorded in the 1960s and ‘70s.
By its conclusion, however, the listener may become adrift in an environment where stylistic demarcations have become blurred, and nature’s intrinsic musicality and tunes by humans verge on a similar border-free reality. Driftless Dreamers (not to be confused with a couple of Cuca oldies that can be heard online and share some of the same material as this one) is instructive how far behind, on time and ahead of the curve artists from the Upper Midwest were compared to activity on the East and West Coasts and Nashville’s Music Row in the days before internet music streaming allowed for any given song’s instantaneous ubiquity.
And, divorced from the slightly surreal context in which the songs here are cast, many hold up to what was blasting from country and pop radio back when. Though listeners with eccentric musical taste, record collectors on a tight budget and music history nerds may be Dreamers’ primary audience, it offers quality listening for anyone fond of the vernacular sounds of the era it covers.
