Feature photo: Alysse Gafkjen
The Wood Brothers sing of the cyclical progression of life, chuckle at people being human, and resolve to make better the things they can control and not worry about the rest. These are some of the broad, introspective themes found all over their seventh studio long player Kingdom In My Mind. And it all came about organically as they were breaking in their new Nashville studio, without them realizing they were forming a cohesive set of recordings.
Oliver Wood (guitars), Chris Wood (bass, harmonica) and Jano Rix (drums, everything else) had been a confessional singer-songwriter troupe going way back the their Ways Not To Lose debut, but each time out they get a little bit better at it and at the same time, try less harder. Because although they might be prime musicians (not might be, they are), you can’t put too much polish into roots rock or else the sincerity gets rubbed away. These guys know the ingredients and how much to put in with each of them.
“Alabaster” with its lazily loping groove and funky keys and Chris Wood on string bass could pass for a Medeski, Martin & Wood song sans the vocals. But Oliver Wood with a worn warble that is the bastard child of Dr. John and Seth Walker is thankfully there spinning a tale of a woman finding a new life far away from the abusive relationship back in “the outskirts of Birmingham” Alabama.
It’s not just Oliver’s singing that makes the songs; all three put in the work on the backing vocals. The country harmonies make “Little Bit Sweet” sweet indeed, as are the gospel backup singing that make the slightly cheeky “Little Bit Broken” more than a small ditty.
Chris Wood is getting worked into more lead vocal parts, and his Rusty Young-like high tenor is heard first on “Jitterbug Love.” You can detect the growing confidence in his voice and it sounds fine in front of Oliver Wood’s acoustic slide guitar. In fact, Chris is now taking on harder rockers like “Don’t Think About My Death,” buoyed by Rix’s chugging rumble.
“Cry Over Nothing” walks the fine line between despair and resignation, and Oliver sells that complicated sentiment convincingly. “Little Blue” is the kind of Crescent City-inspired bluesy funk construction that Lowell George used to pump out with regularity for Little Feat, but with a looser feel. “A Dream’s A Dream” on the other hand, is perhaps a Billy Payne type of Little Feat song, and Oliver’s slide gets all kind of nasty and sloppy … in a good way.
There are a lot of things you can sing about and a lot of ways you can play it. The Wood Brothers always opt for timeless themes and methods, and never more so than on Kingdom In My Mind. This record satisfies the soul today and will satisfy the soul just as well many years from now.
Kingdom In My Mind is poised for release January 24, 2020 on Honey Jar/Thirty Tigers.
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