In the past few months, Oxford has opened its doors to some of the most prominent and exciting bluegrass bands currently making music.
Last semester alone featured shows by groups such as Greensky Bluegrass and Punch Brothers. As a new semester comes to fruition, yet another promising up-and-comer within the genre is gracing the Square for a night of unforgettable banjo-picking, foot-stomping music.
(Courtesy: Woodandwireband.com)
Wood & Wire, a bluegrass quartet from Austin, Texas, will put on their first show in Oxford tomorrow at Proud Larry’s starting at 9 p.m.
“We put on a really high energy, really fun, live show,” Tony Kamel, lead singer and guitarist for the group, said. “We do a lot of improvisation, some extended jams. I think that’s what a lot of people want to see instead of stiff people sitting there, going through the motions, playing the same songs. We like to get out there, way out in left field.”
The group’s high-energy, fresh take on an age-old genre is largely a product of the band’s hometown of Austin. The thriving bluegrass scene in this legendary music city gave birth to Wood & Wire.
“We all kind of met each other in different ways, and we all kind of came together through the picking and bluegrass scene out here,” Kamel said. “It was a combination of the Old Settler’s Music Festival, where we would all kind of party and jam together, and just through other pickers we know.”
Through this less-than-formal introduction, the group was able to draft some of the most talented bluegrass musicians in all of Austin, including legendary mandolinist Billy Bright, and started to make the unique, technically proficient sound that is prevalent in all their work.
The band’s inaugural visit to Oxford is a part of a long weekend of shows throughout the state of Mississippi, and is sure to bring yet another fresh and exciting take on modern bluegrass to the Square.
“We’ll play a lot of original music and some old bluegrass standards as well,” Kamel said. “I would just say a good, fun, high energy performance; that’s what we like to do.”
The band currently has two full length studio albums out, the most recent of which made quite an impression within the growing bluegrass following all around the nation. Entitled “The Coast,” the album displays a healthy mix of the beloved old bluegrass sound and the group’s unique take on the genre.
“Really, we are still discovering ourselves as a band, and it’s really just starting to happen,” Kamel said. “As much as I love ‘The Coast’ I can’t wait to make the third (album)… As far as the direction we are heading, to see that, you’ve got to see us live. We do play a lot of songs off ‘The Coast,’ we always do, but I think the way we play them live is a little bit different than the record.”
As the group looks forward to 2016, their busy schedule includes recording a live album, as well as putting in work towards another original studio album to be released sometime in 2017.
“We will be traveling all over the country (in 2016), east coast and west coast. We’re playing at a bunch of really cool festivals,” Kamel said. “It’s going to be a fun year.”
