Great American Taxi sounds like a laid-back, jammin,’ party band — think Grateful Dead, Wilco or The Byrds.

But listen carefully and there’s a political edge to some of the music created by the Colorado-based country-rock group that performs on Friday, Aug. 13, at the outdoor Central Music Festival near Red Deer.

“Woodie Guthrie was a huge influence for us and we truly believe in the power of song,” said the group’s founder Vince Herman, who feels tunes about hard luck times tend to “hold a man up and make him feel stronger than he is — and they make him feel good about his community.”

In the Great American Taxi tune Appalachian Soul, Herman and other group members are protesting a mining practice that’s an affront to environmentalists and anyone who enjoys the natural splendour of the Appalachian Mountains.

Mountaintop mining, or the process of blasting the tops off ridges in West Virginia and Kentucky to easily access the coal beneath, “absolutely destroys whole mountain ranges,” said Herman. The group’s singer/guitarist/mandolinist grew up partly in West Virginia (as well as Pittsburgh), and feels a personal connection to that state, where they use “half a million pounds of dynamite a day” to blast mountains, causing concerns about water-table contamination.

Appalachian Soul was included in a charitable musical compilation disc, Still Moving Mountains: The Journey Home, which raised money to help activists opposing the process.

A more recent Great American Taxi tune, The New Millennium Blues, off the latest album, Reckless Habits, is about the sad state of the U.S. economy. “It’s about how we can’t afford our pickup trucks and how our jobs are all gone overseas . . .” said Herman, who initially assembled the group with his musician friends in 2005 for a jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group (“It was so much fun, we just kept it going . . . ”).

While the band, which also includes keyboardist Chuck Staehly, guitarist Jim Lewin, bassist Brian Adams and drummer Chris Sheldon, occasionally touches upon serious subjects, no one can accuse it of crying the blues.

Even Great American Taxi protest songs are generally up-beat, containing Cajun, calypso, and bluegrass melodies and a retro, ’70s feel.

“We like to get as much dancing going as possible,” said Herman, who enjoys experimenting with traditional Southern boogie and swampy blues-rock sounds.

He’s also “fired up” about outdoor festivals and performing in Canada.

While the Central Music Festival will mark the group’s first appearance north of the U.S. border, Herman expects all festival crowds are the same: “People are at their best at festivals — maybe because they can get away from the rest of the world and feel like they’re on holiday.”

For performers, outdoor festivals offer a welcome change from playing in clubs, Herman added. “You can play with other musicians and there’s a lot of camaraderie.”

For more information about the festival location and lineup, go to www.centralmusicfest.com. Festival news can also be followed on Twitter @centralmusicfes.

Tickets for both days are $75 for adults, or $65 for students and seniors from the Black Knight Ticket Centre or Valhalla Pure Outfitters. Children under 13 are free with an adult. Day passes are $50 for adults, seniors and students at the gate.

lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com