The Wood Brothers
State Theatre
Portland, ME
October 4

Just a day and a half after dropping their sixth studio album, Paradise, the Nashville-based Wood Brothers (Oliver Wood, Chris Wood and Jano Rix) packed the gorgeous State Theatre in Portland, Maine for one of the most memorable shows that the storied theater has ever hosted.

If you’ve never seen these guys perform, it’s hands down a music MUST.

Sons of a guitar-playing, molecular biologist father in Boulder, CO, the brothers have a unique sound that blends blues, R&B, folk and jazz influences. Oliver Wood developed as a musician in Atlanta, initially touring with Tinsley Ellis, then with his own band, King Johnson, producing six albums over a twelve-year period. His guitar work is reminiscent of Hendrix’s aggressive blues-acid and the twangs of Robbie Robertson. Brother Chris, meanwhile, moved to Boston to study jazz bass at the New England Conservatory. He eventually became the “Wood” component of Medeski Martin and Wood; he is arguably one of the hottest and most talented bassists in music today. The third “Brother,” Jano Rix, brings the kind of excitement and innovation to percussion that Les Paul brought to the guitar. The Wood Brothers’ sound is a blend of this extensive and varied musical pedigree.

Opening to a room packed with a mixed crowd of bearded hipsters, woodsmen in Carhartts, and regular family folks, the boys saddled up to the campfire with The Muse, a crowd favorite and the title track from their last studio album. The Muse reeled in the entire room, new fans and longtime devotees alike. In short order, the entire crowd became part of Ollie’s whiskey drinking campfire story. It’s a song that is both intimately personal yet universally identifiable to the audience. With the crowd now fully onboard, Ollie, Chris and Jano segued to a new song from Paradise,  “Never and Always,” punctuated by sophisticated vocal harmonies. It also displayed Jano’s mesmerizing virtuosity on the Shuitar, an entire acoustic drumset and percussion ensemble cleverly piggybacked onto a guitar worn like a bandolier. The outstanding set list built and exploded over the next hour, featuring crowd favorites like Loving Arms, The Shore, Snake Eyes and Singing to Strangers, another new creation off of the Paradise album.

A highlight in a concert full of them was the Brothers’ unique rendition of Postcards From Hell, featuring some of the most impressive finger picking I’ve ever witnessed. Looking around the theater, it was pretty obvious that the 800 other concertgoers were similarly entranced by these spectacular sounds. Subsequently, a rockin’ “When I was Young” made us all want to get up and dance. Then, to inject variety,, the band gathered around a gorgeous star-shaped Ear Trumpet condenser mic (about the size of a watermelon and resembling a piece of art more than a mic), for a crowd pleasing rendition of the early American prison work song “Ain’t No More Cane,” originally popularized by The Band.. The night concluded with “Wasting My Time” and “Ophelia,” both of which were simply off the charts.

If you want to treat yourself to some of the finest musicianship, harmonizing, plucking and good old fashioned ‘round-the-campfire-sipping-whiskey-by-the-covered-wagon storytelling, get out and see the Wood Brothers. Flask of whiskey: optional (though highly encouraged).