Author: Jedd Ferris

 Bands of brothers are nothing new. Whether it’s Stanley, Everly or Avett, sibling combos are well established across a range of musical generations and genres. But unlike the lifelong chemistry established by some family bands, Oliver and Chris Wood spent nearly two decades playing apart before finally coming together.

The two members of gritty folk-rock trio the Wood Brothers grew up in Boulder, Colorado, learning early varieties of roots music through campfire sing-alongs with their father. There were even a few bedroom jam sessions as teenagers, but with Oliver being four years older than Chris, he left home before there was time for any significant collaboration. Oliver settled in Atlanta, where he cut his teeth on guitar as sideman for blues ace Tinsley Ellis and eventually formed his own band, King Johnson. Chris went the jazz route, studying at the New England Conservatory of Music before going on to form the influential avant-groove trio Medeski, Martin and Wood.

At a fateful gig in North Carolina, King Johnson opened for MMW, and Oliver Wood sat in with his younger brother’s band. On stage that night something intuitive clicked between Oliver and Chris, so they decided to record some demos together.

“When we started we didn’t have a specific goal in mind, other than being together and playing music,” Oliver Wood said. “We’ve lived in different parts of the country for so long that it’s always been challenging to stay connected. It started as a project for fun that gave us a chance to hang out.”

The band’s early demo recordings were so well-received, the duo quickly landed a deal with the venerable Blue Note Records and released a debut album, Ways to Lose in 2006.
Soon after, what started as a loose side project evolved into a more permanent enterprise. The brothers’ undeniable connection resulted in an aggressive acoustic sound that finds Oliver Wood nimbly plucking hill country guitar on top of Chris’ fluid, driving bass lines. They recently added drummer Tyler Greenwell (Tedeschi-Trucks Band) to round out the group.

“A lot of people ask how we found common ground with Chris coming from the out-there territory of MMW, but when it comes down to it we studied the same roots of music,” Oliver Wood explained. “We’re both inspired by Howlin’ Wolf and Alan Lomax field recordings. Part of it is the fact that we’re brothers and we have genetic ties and emotional ties from family and a lot of the same childhood experiences. We’re both into the same stuff, but at first we took it to different places.”

Late last year the brothers released Smoke Ring Halo, their most versatile album to date. It journeys through various corners of Americana, moving from the front porch funk of “When I Was Young” to the electric gospel of “Made it up the Mountain” to the dusty balladry of the title track. Oliver Wood has a voice that’s ripe for a backwater juke joint, especially effective during the frisky intent of foot-stomper “Shoofly Pie.”

The album is the band’s first for country jam mega-star Zac Brown’s Southern Ground label. Brown became a fan of the Wood Brothers through mutual music connections of Oliver in Atlanta and decided to let the band open for him on a stretch of arena dates.

“Zac likes all kinds of music, and he’s supportive of the stuff that he’s passionate about,” Oliver Wood added. “His label does a little bit of everything—hip-hop, country and Americana. It’s nice to work with the president of a label who’s not just a guy in a suit. He’s made an effort to expose us to a new audience.”

It’s been a big year for The Infamous Stringdusters. The dynamic five-man string band picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental, started an independent record label, High Country Recordings, and kicked off a sold-out bill in front of 10,000 people at Colorado’s legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre this past summer. But as far as long-term vision, perhaps the biggest thing the band did this year was move to Charlottesville. 

With a Grammy nomination and two Festy sets to their name, The Infamous Stringdusters are reviving local bluegrass while taking steps beyond the genre. Photo by Tom Daly.

In many ways, the relocation from Nashville is more about musical identity than geography. When the band first emerged in 2007, it was lauded by the Music City bluegrass establishment as the genre’s next great upstart. The group won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award and immediately landed gigs at high-profile festivals. But frankly, the Nashville-centered old guard of the bluegrass world can be a stodgy crowd. Purists get miffed when young bands mess with the traditional parameters set by forefathers like Bill Monroe more than a half-century ago. From the beginning, the Stringdusters had bigger ideas about where they wanted to take their music.

“People who love bluegrass take it very seriously,” said the band’s banjo player Chris Pandolfi. “It’s like a religion. But our goal has always been to cross genres and reach new people—fans who aren’t judgmental and are willing to go along with us.” 

On stage, the group is armed with acoustic instruments and virtuosic chops. It’s easy to see what first attracted traditional bluegrass fans. With nimble, quick-picking fingers, the Strindusters trade solos with spitfire finesse and harmonize vocals with high lonesome grace. But the band often applies this roots-based skill set to broader sonic exploration. In current sets the band expands down-home tunes with energetic extended jams and dance-friendly grooves, while also lending fiddle and banjo treatment to a range of covers, including The Police’s “Walking on the Moon” and U2’s “In God’s Country.” Similar to what predecessors Béla Fleck and Sam Bush pioneered in New Grass Revival, and the current sound of contemporaries like Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band, the Stringdusters push their music beyond conventional boundaries, and enhance their country-hued romps with intelligent improvisation.    

“This year we figured out who we are as a band,” says guitarist Andy Falco. “People are shocked that a string band can rock. There’s nothing we love more than changing someone’s perception of what this music can be.” 

With a broadening sound and a creative approach to moving forward in an evolving music industry, the Stringdusters picked Charlottesville as a new home base. Pandolfi and Falco moved to town at the beginning of year to be close to the band’s management company, The Artist Farm, which operates out of the top floor of the Pink Warehouse building on South Street. Bassist Travis Book is a more recent arrival, as is the band’s sound engineer Drew Becker. Fiddler Jeremy Garrett and dobro player Andy Hall still live in Nashville. 

Although the band spends more than half the year touring across the country, making an impact on the local music landscape has been a priority. In April, the group played a sold-out show at the Jefferson Theater, part of which was used in the recording of the recent live album, We’ll Do It Live —the band’s first release on its new label. Then in October, the band and management hosted the second annual Festy Experience, a three-day festival on the grounds of Devils Backbone Brewery that drew nearly 4,000 people to Nelson County for a range of local and national acts, including Lake Street Drive, David Grisman, and Brett Dennen. Under the Festy umbrella, the Artist Farm has recently started promoting shows in town by bands in line with the festival’s musical aesthetic, and when the Stringdusters’ van is parked at home, the band members who live here have started playing local gigs as a stripped-down side project called the Founding Fathers. All of this has contributed to a revived spirit in Charlottesville’s new-school mountain music scene, which has been a bit disjointed since the closing of the Prism Coffeehouse in 2006. 

“This is an inspirational town for a musician—especially for the kinds of things we want to do,” said Falco. “We’re finding opportunities to help create a new scene.” 

This week the Stringdusters are hitting the road for a four-night run to ring in the New Year. In another act of localism, the band is bringing cello-looping indie tunesmith Wes Swing along for the ride to open shows in New Jersey and Baltimore. The brief tour will culminate in two hometown shows, including a New Year’s Eve bash at the Jefferson Theater and a bonus show the night before at the Southern Café and Music Hall—only available to Jefferson Theater ticket holders. The big New Year’s gig will also feature Swing, along with additional support from the rollicking horns of Richmond’s No BS! Brass Band. Rest assured, it’s not going to be a typical bluegrass show.

“At the end of the day, it matters very little what music is called,” says Pandolfi. “What we’re really trying to create is an experience.”