22 Aug KOTO’s THE RIDE: THE WOOD BROTHERS
Editor’s Note: KOTOfm and Big Head Todd & The Monsters co-host Telluride’s inaugural Ride Festival. The monster musical event takes place this weekend, Saturday, August 25 (around noon) – Sunday, August 26 (around 10 p.m.) and features Big Head Todd, Ben Harper, Los Lobos, JJ Grey & Mofro, The Lumineers, North Mississippi Allstars, James McMurtry, David Lindley, Nathaniel Rateliff, Matthew Curry & The Fury, Lucinda Williams and Jimmy Herry. Also on the bill: The Wood Brothers, a favorite of our new writer Danny Fenster. Read on….
The Wood Brothers
Two brothers are born in Boulder, CO., the sons of a poet and a music-obsessed molecular biologist. The boys are raised on hearty servings of the nutritive roots of American music: blues, folk, country, gospel, bluegrass. Later, one grabs a guitar and heads East to Atlanta. He learns about life as a working musician, backing up blues bands and later forming a groups of his own. The other takes a bass to the New England Conservatory of Music and immerses himself in jazz, later forming a wildly popular trio which brought their unique take on the classic American music form to a whole new generation.
In their respective careers, guitarist Oliver Wood backed bluesman Tinsley Ellis and formed the blues band King Johnson. Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Wood became one-third of the massively influential experimental jazz trio known as Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW). But it wasn’t until a family reunion in 2004 – after 15 years of playing professionally– that the brothers sat down together and started recording music of their own.
The experiment was an instant success.
What strikes you immediately about the Wood Brothers sound are the interweaving strands of all those influences that have shaped them as individuals and as a family. Oliver’s acoustic guitar betrays folky roots, yet is amply intoned with blues phrasings and a yearning voice. Chris’s bass gives the songs a lively dose of jazz and funk,which fans might recognize from MMW. Tyler Greenwell backs the brothers on drums, as do a slew of guest musicians on the band’s most recent studio album, Smoke Ring Halo.
The Wood Brothers perform Sunday, Aug. 26, at 2:30pm.
For a preview of what’s in store, watch this video.
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