Wood & Wire Shines At SXSW, Up Next: Austin City Limits

Dillon Cheverere11 years ago

If Skrillex is featured on your everyday playlist, move along. This band doesn’t come with a digital turntable, 12-foot tall speakers, or an extravagant light show. Their setup is simple. Wood and wire, the band’s namesake, are the only materials needed to bring their music to life. Well, that and four talented musicians.

The unmistakable sounds of rising bluegrass band Wood & Wire could be heard throughout Rainey Street in Austin, Texas, during the annual South by Southwest festival in early March. The source of the music? The Grandex SXSW party. Wood & Wire performed a 20-song set at Lucille Patio Lounge in front of several hundred of our friends and colleagues. I stood a mere 30 feet away, next to a gathering of friends and coworkers, trying to figure out if the band was really as great as they sounded or if I had had one too many vodka sodas. Then I remembered I had only been at the party for 15 minutes and was half a VS deep.

They were good. Very good. I’ve always had an appreciation for bluegrass music, although, admittedly, it doesn’t usually find its way into my go-to playlists. That’s changing.

I considered asking my lady friend to two-step. Then I remembered–again, because apparently I couldn’t remember anything that night–there isn’t enough vodka in Texas to coerce my ass onto any dance floor. Plus, the crowd was more into the social, “let’s check the vibe” mode at that point, and I couldn’t be the only jackass embarrassing himself on the dance floor.

“The Grandex party was actually the highlight of our SXSW this year,” guitarist and lead singer Tony Kamel told me from Nashville, basically hinting he could sense my dance moves trying to escape my body that night. Speaking of Nashville, what is the Austin-based band doing all the way out there? Going mainstream on us already?

“We’ve been in Nashville recording our second album. It’s been going great and we’re really pumped about laying a lot of brand new material on our fans,” said Kamel.

If the new tunes are as good as the band’s current stuff, my playlist is about to expand. Speaking of their older stuff, I’m a new Wood & Wire fan who’s still learning lyrics. That would prove to be a blessing at our SXSW party–although you won’t find me on many dance floors, I’ll beer-bottle-microphone sing the shit out of some good music, for better or worse.

Will the band play any new material at Austin City Limits? Oh, that’s right. Did I mention Wood & Wire will take the stage this year at one of the biggest music festivals in the country? Sharing the spotlight with headliners Eminem, Outkast, Lorde, and Pearl Jam? And in the Live Music Capital of the World–Austin, Texas?

Big, big things. You heard about them here first. Or hell, maybe you didn’t. But if you didn’t know, now you do.

Follow @wood_and_wire on Twitter, “like” their page on Facebook, and visit the official Wood & Wire website to check out upcoming shows and listen to some fantastic, authentic bluegrass music. If you can’t catch them live before this fall, meet us at ACL. I’ll be the guy double-timing vodka sodas on the front row.