INTERVIEW: Wood Brothers chart year of folk music for the folks
The Wood Brothers — featuring bassist Chris Wood, guitarist Oliver Wood and drummer Jano Rix — never intended for their three-person band to be a full-time gig. After all, Chris had Medeski, Martin & Wood, which continues to unload its funky compositions, and Oliver had the bluesy band King Johnson. The brothers’ trio was supposed to be an excuse for Chris and Oliver to come together musically and personally.
More than a decade after their initial album, Ways Not to Lose, on Blue Note, the Wood Brothers find themselves building momentum and on a constant tour for their growing group of devotees.
Their most recent album is a live offering called Live at the Barn, which was recorded Aug. 19, 2016, at Levon Helm’s famous Midnight Ramble barn in Woodstock, New York. They are also still reaping the benefits of the well-received 2015 album Paradise. Add to that an extensive schedule of gigs that includes a Friday, Feb. 10 concert at New York City’s Webster Hall and a summer tour with Tedeschi Trucks Band and Hot Tuna, and it’s easy to see why the Wood Brothers are in the spotlight.
“We’re bringing with us a new live record called Live at the Barn,” Oliver said recently in a phone interview about what fans can expect at the New York gig. “That just came out a couple of weeks ago, and we’re certainly going to play some stuff that we featured on that. And we really like mixing up our repertoire and taking stuff from old records and stuff from later records and newer records, and then sort of mixing it up and reworking songs and making them sound different than they did on the record — so a little bit of this, a little bit of that. In the Northeast, we’ll have the T Sisters with us who are some buddies from the Bay Area, fantastic singing group.”
Oliver’s memories from the legendary Barn in upstate New York are still vivid. He called the venue an inspiring place to play, and when Helm was still alive, the Wood Brothers performed on a few “Rambles.” The Live at the Barn album captures their first concert in Woodstock since Helm died.
“It was always such an amazing experience, and he was such a great, humble and gracious guy,” Oliver said. “Of course, his music was just amazing. Anyway we count him as a real mentor and hero and friend and friendly guy to know. Anyway it ended up being a real sentimental show and a real special vibe, and so since we figured it would be like that, we decided to record it just for posterity and ended up coming out nicely. So we thought, well, let’s put a little live CD out.”
The Wood Brothers tour extensively, and hearing their folksy renditions is a musical delight for their fans. But sometimes the open road can grow tiresome, and the time away from family can be difficult.
“The saving grace out there on tour is the shows,” Oliver said. “The shows, that’s the easy part. That’s the fun part; that’s the joy. So I wouldn’t trade that for anything, but I will say making records is another passion. And it’s very gratifying in a different way. It’s like taking pictures or painting pictures or snapping pictures or whatever. It’s kind of like preserving something. It’s kind of set in stone. It’s kind of special. I like the unexpectedness of it. You plan things. You think you know how it’s going to come out, but you never know until you do it. And that’s kind of what art is about. It’s just trying stuff and seeing what happens, and it’s really fun to capture that on a recording.”
Their last album of originals, Paradise, featured such memorable tunes as “Singin’ to the Strangers,” “American Heartache,” “Snake Eyes” and the album closer, “River of Sin.” The band is already working on a new record of originals. Oliver said there are 10 songs ready to go.
Playing the Passion tracks on the road has offered a special joy for Olier. More than a year after the album’s initial release, the Wood Brothers are now able to take some creative licenses with the songs. “You’re comfortable with them,” Oliver said. “You can take liberties and improvise with them or rework them or play them for people who haven’t heard them or really appreciate them. … I feel that way about almost all of the albums, no matter how old they are. Some of the oldest songs are some of the most appreciated ones, and it always feels good to play them. I don’t really get tired of that.”
The Wood Brothers’ success surprises Oliver. They started the band 10 years ago as a side project. Chris had Medeski Martin & Wood as a full-time career, and Oliver had Tinsley Ellis and King Johnson. They wanted to reconnect and grow closer as brothers, and thus the Wood Brothers project was born.
“So it really did start out as sort of a cool way for us to reconnect as brothers,” he said. “We had lived in different parts of the country, and we had really grown apart, both musically and just socially as brothers. So, at first, it was just kind of a fun project for us to do something together and be together and connect and share what we had learned. We did this a little later in life after we had gone out and played years and years on the road with other people. So it started out that way, but then the more we did it, we just got deeper into it. Things just sort of gradually grew into more of a serious enterprise, and then at a certain point, our other bands that we had been in for years and years started trying other stuff and not splitting up but really just kind of taking a backseat. And the Wood Brothers just became a full-time thing eventually, and now everything else is a side project.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Wood Brothers will play New York City’s Webster Hall Friday, Feb. 10. They will also join Tedeschi Trucks Band and Hot Tuna on the Wheels of Soul summer tour. Click here for more information and tickets.
