VIRGIN ARSENAL:
Wooden Wand Returns to the Magic City
"We were at the Wal-Mart for the irony
And huddled 'round the flame at the KOA
And I was visualizin' something sinister and slow
The pavement got sticky burning with a scorpion glow."
James Jackson Toth is a hard man to keep up with. In fact, it might be damn near impossible. As one of the fledgling acolytes of the New Weird America movement that gave birth to the likes of Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsome, the chameleon-like songwriter has made a career out of confounding both critics and fans alike with his genre-bending forays into avant-folk, country, and- on occasion- good old fashioned rock n' roll. A prolific wordsmith whose workman-like ethos has led to over a hundred releases- both as a solo artist operating under the moniker Wooden Wand (or Wand), as well as with group projects- Toth doesn't pull any punches when it comes to stamping out product. Having served stints in such wildly eclectic outfits as Akron/Family, the Vanishing Voice, and the Sky High Band, his seeming need to keep consumers guessing has become something of a hallmark for the Kentucky based troubadour. Conventional enough to qualify as a true craftsman when it comes to songwriting prowess, his wayward musical tendencies have also garnered him the attention of such avant-luminaries as Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Michael Gira of the Swans, both of whom have released records of his on their respective labels.
Having traveled to Birmingham last year to record the excellent Briarwood album at Ol' Elegante Studios in Homewood- a project initially funded by an online Kickstarter campaign for diehard fans- Toth has come to embrace the city as something of a second home when it comes to music-making. Having initially arrived here to do a one-off split 7" with local rockers the Gum Creek Killers, Toth became so enamored with his musical cohorts (and they with him) that plans were hatched to do an entire album based off the good vibes and mutual admiration spawned during the session. Although the 7" has yet to see the light of day, the record that emerged in the aftermath was one of the best albums to come out of the Magic City in recent memory and stands as a testament Birmingham's increasing notoriety as a first rate music town. In fact, it was so good, it has already been re-released by Fire Records in an effort to give it a wider audience after having flown well under most people's radars both nationally and here at home.
Facilitated by Gum Creek Killers frontman Duquette Johnston- who had been a longtime friend of Toth's wife, Leah, when she lived here in town booking bands for Bottletree- the partnership proved to be a match made in heaven. With additional help from fellow co-conspirators Brian Lowery, Through The Sparks' Jody Nelson, and producer/engineer Les Nuby, the band- re-christened the Briarwood Virgins- took a highly democratic approach in creating the album that allowed for a distinctly organic sound to evolve, with Toth giving everyone room to contribute.
"James just came in and let everybody do exactly what needed to be done," says Nuby. "We just made an immediate connection. He's just one of those people where he might as well be from Birmingham. It's no wonder him and Leah are together, because he's just one of those guys who immediately fits into- not just being Southern- but that sort of, strange, 'Birmingham's a wonderful little secret' and we don't tell that many people about it. He understood all the dynamics of that and it translated into the recordings. I had never engineered or produced a record where so many different people from different bands played on it and left the ego at the door. Me included."
With an arsenal of talent at his disposal, Toth utilized the strengths of each individual player and helped to foster a spirit of openness that translated into a heady brew of smoky harmonies, Dixie-fried Americana, and Neil Young-inspired riffage. Like a low-slung hymnal of lost country blues hellbent on a rock n' roll revival, the album seemed to coalesce around a need to inspire both each other and the music. From the snowbound melancholy of "Winter In Kentucky" to the hazy swagger of "Motel Stationary" the whole record teemed with outstanding performances from everyone involved.
"It's funny thinking back on it," adds Nuby, "because it came together so quickly and so well I wanted it to come out so the secret I knew could be shared with people."
And although many people are just now coming to find out about it, Toth has already returned to Birmingham to record the follow-up, which everyone from the band agrees is a major step forward in terms of the group's dynamic collaboration. In fact, Toth himself has gone as far as calling it a career defining album. With no release date set, fans will have to wait to hear the end results, but until then Toth and and his bandmates hope that more people will revisit the first album to help whet their appetites.
As a preview of what's to come, I spoke with Toth to discuss his labyrinthine career, the making of Briarwood, and his thoughts on the Birmingham music scene. This is what he said....
A: You're a highly prolific artist in terms of recorded output and seem to have a nearly boundless vocabulary when it comes to making music. Is there a method to your madness or do you just enjoy the idea of documenting the process of creation?
WW: I started writing as a kid, and I guess I just never stopped. As an adult I enjoy the process as much as the results, so making a record is my absolute favorite thing to do. I do write constantly, but you have to write ten bad songs to write one good one, and 100 good ones to write one great one. Writing songs is the only thing I’m good at, unless you count making grilled cheese. My grilled cheese is the stuff of legend.
A: How did you first start out as a musician?
WW: My dad was constantly buying me records, or taking me to the record store and letting me pick out albums. I had a cousin in a pretty high profile metal band, and my uncle was a Neil Young fanatic, so, although I wouldn’t say I come from an especially musical family, there were a lot of things to inspire me and make me feel like I could make a living this way. I played mostly metal up until college, when I started learning country songs. That’s really when I began to write songs seriously, as opposed to dicking around making primitive recordings on a karaoke machine.
A: You've gone through a lot of permutations as both a solo artist and with bands. Do you see- or try to maintain- any conceptual continuity within your body of work, or are things more compartmentalized according to specific projects?
WW: Honesty in performance and execution is the only concept, and my only unbreakable rule. I don’t believe in repeating myself, and every record is and should be different from the previous ones. Most of my heroes made careers out of confounding expectations. You do risk alienating people by following the muse and ignoring current fashions, but if you start worrying about that sort of thing, you start making shitty records.
A: I know you are an avid record collector and music aficionado. Do you find yourself consciously trying to frame your music within a larger historical context or do you see it as something beyond your own influences?
WW: Tom Waits said, “whatever you absorb, you eventually secrete.” I just try to secrete the good stuff I absorb. I do like to think I am contributing to the Great Tapestry.
A: You seem to have a very cinematic/impressionistic narrative sensibility when it comes to writing songs. Are there any particular songwriters you draw inspiration from or who inform your work?
WW: Tons of songwriters inform my work, but I make a conscious effort to not imitate anyone. Before I go in to make a record, I’m usually listening to a lot of techno, black metal and jazz, so as not to accidentally plagiarize, you know, Vic Chesnutt or Richard Buckner, because that would be easy to do. I’m inspired as much by authors as I am by songwriters – these days, perhaps more so.
A: You just got done tracking your second album here in Birmingham with the Briarwood Virgins at Ol' Elegante Studios. How did you first get involved with the Birmingham music scene?
WW: My wife is from Samson, Alabama, and spent many years living in Birmingham. She promoted shows at the Bottletree, so she was really familiar with the music scene and its participants. We actually met at the Bottletree, while I was on tour with Akron/Family.Through her, I met all the guys who would eventually make up the Briarwood Virgins. Duquette proposed a split 7" on which his band, Gum Creek Killers, would back me up on the Wooden Wand side and I would sing on the Gum Creek Killers side. It went so well I decided to make a whole album there at Ol' Elegante.
A: The idea of a "Briarwood virgin" is long-running in-joke for Birmingham natives. Were you aware of the connotation? How did you all decide on the name of the band and the album?
WW: Again, my wife. I thought it was a hilarious name for a band. Despite the next record having most of the same personnel, I think we’ll be retiring the name, though – future records will be back to being filed under just ‘Wooden Wand.’ People get confused.
A: It seems like you really hit it off with everyone involved and developed a real rapport with each other both musically and personally. In fact, you mentioned in a recent interview that the Briarwood Virgins were "the band you had been looking for since you first started making records." What was your experience like making those albums?
WW: Bliss. This is the perfect band for me. Making this last record was so much fun that a few of us got sorta depressed for a week or so after it was over. Ol' Elegante, especially after making this second record, feels like home. We just seemed to all catch this particular sort of wave, where we knew something special was happening. The experience was totally positive. Everyone contributed a lot. Special shout out to Les Nuby, who not only co-produced and engineered, but also played parts when no one else would or could. I'd say he was the secret weapon, but that ignores all the other secret weapons in this band. I'm the weak link, really. I just hope people can connect with this next album, because it’s by far the best thing I’ve done, and I couldn’t have done it without Brad, David, Jody, Les and Janet. “If you buy just ONE Wooden Wand album…”
A: Were there any common touchstones you all leaned on in formulating your approach to the songs? Seems like there is a heavy Neil Young vibe on some of the tracks….
WW: Neil is always present, but it’s a tricky thing because a lot of bands try to do the “Crazy Horse” thing “and fail miserably. My goal is to not have a “thing.” Neil inspires me as much for his attitude as for his music. When people say a record sounds like Neil Young, they’re very rarely talking about Trans, or Old Ways, or Everybody’s Rockin', you know? His music is obviously very important to me, but I make a conscious effort to follow his example and his integrity, rather than attempt to mimic the greatness of a mere sampling of his best work.
A: The Briarwood album was made possible by a Kickstarter campaign you started online. What made you want to use Kickstarter as a vehicle for funding the record? Was it out of necessity or just another means of production?
WW: I got tired of depending on labels - who really don’t have the money they used to, at least not for bands that sell under 5,000 copies, like Wooden Wand – and felt like I could bypass the middle man and sell directly to fans. The experience was encouraging, and I may do it again someday, but not for a while. Like any business model, it has its own unique set of problems.
A: Fire Records will be re-releasing Briarwood in April accompanied by your demos for the album. How did that come about so soon after the initial pressing?
WW: Because we felt, frankly, that the record was a victim of a ‘perfect storm’ sort of scenario – it was released late in the year after most ‘top ten of 2011’ lists were already being printed, Kickstarter siphoned off a lot of the diehards and also made the “official release date” sorta moot, and the press campaign was an unmitigated catastrophe. Fire Records, to their eternal credit, were so disappointed by the response (or lack thereof) that they decided to re-release the album, which, to me, is a testament to their belief on the project. It's an album worth hearing.
A: How did the sessions go for the new record? Do you see it as a departure from the last album or just building on the foundation you all created for the first?
WW: I can’t discuss it too much, as the actual release date is pretty far off, but it is, by some distance, a defining record for me. It doesn’t have much in common with Briarwood at all – it is the Sunday morning wake-and-bake record to Briarwood’s Saturday night revelry. But it’s also so much more than that. I can’t wait for you to hear it.
A: So you're happy with the results so far?
WW: If people don’t see in this record what we see, it may very well be the last Wooden Wand record. I’ll be plenty happy to make this record my legacy. I’m just glad I got to make it before I died in some tragic accident or something. All of the previous albums feel like a rehearsal for this one.
A: Any thoughts about the Birmingham music scene and some of the great musicians/music coming from here?
WW: I love the Birmingham scene, and the bands here - Delicate Cutters, Through The Sparks, 13ghosts, etc - are all doing really cool stuff. Before I really spent any time there, I was already familiar with the Bottletree, as it was always a stop on tour I looked forward to. Love, love, love the Bottletree - who doesn't? Assholes, I guess. Anyway, I just wish there was more national attention paid to what's going on there. Hopefully soon!
A: Finally, you're getting ready to head out on the road with Janet Simpson as a pared down touring unit where you'll be making stops throughout the Southeast as well as Austin, TX for an appearance at South By Southwest. Is it just going to be the two of you? What can fans expect from you all in terms of the live show?
WW: Just a duo, yes. With Janet, the music improves by about 200%, so I’d encourage everyone to come out. We’ll be playing a lot of new stuff, and stuff from Briarwood, and hopefully even a Delicate Cutters tune if I can convince Janet to let me play on one. I’m lucky to have her along. Also, our touring partner this time, Jeff Lewis, is an old friend, and he’s also a ton of fun to watch live. Should be a good time.
(Wooden Wand is on tour NOW with Birmingham's Janet Simpson and will be appearing at Eclipse Coffee & Books in Montevallo on Friday, March 9 at 8 pm.)
