By: Joe Lang
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The Waybacks at Merlefest in May, 2006 - Photo by Jane Hogan
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Due to my proclivity for listening to older bands and musicians and what I would attribute to less and less inspiration in modern music, it’s becoming rare for me to go out to see some of the younger lions of the music world. Fortunately, last Thursday I had one of those unique and magic opportunities.
The billing for the Waybacks and Wilders show was a little bit confusing, to say the least. Certain flyers billed the Wilders as the headlining act, but the names were reversed on the sign atop the Cedar. I’d never heard of the Wilders before; I just kept my fingers crossed that they were of the same newgrass style of the Waybacks. I’d heard of The Waybacks from my dad, who came back from a tour of the west coast with a copy of the (then new) Waybacks’ album, Way Live. A live compilation of tracks from their first two albums (Burger After Church and Devolver), the album was given to him by Stevie Coyle, fingerstyle guitarist from the Waybacks. I was already a fan of the jazzy newgrass recordings of Sam Bush and Béla Fleck, and the cuts on the live offering were similar in style, but with an unparalleled energy and fresh and humorous originality.
On one hand, I wanted the Waybacks to go on first so I could dip out if the Wilders weren’t hip. On the other, I wanted the Waybacks to be able to play a nice long set.
Unfortunately, the Wilders did go on first, and they were far from hip. And they played a set well over an hour. And they did an encore. According to the Cedar’s website, “The Wilders' playlist is peppered with original country, bluegrass, and hillbilly songs, done with honesty and a genuine enthusiasm for the music.” Without going into too much detail, the Wilders are a four-piece country band with bass, guitar, mandolin and fiddle. The only player doing anything remotely interesting was Betse Ellis, the fiddle player, and the other band members chopped around three chords while singing cheese whiz covers of people like Jimmy Dean (yeah, the sausage guy) and bad Johnny Cash arrangements. Honestly, I’d like to see them try to take on a difficult Bill Monroe or Doc Watson tune. At least they seemed to be having a good time; personally I had to go out and have a beer to avoid their encore.
After an intermission, I relocated to a nice spot near the front as the Waybacks took the stage to a strange and lackluster introduction (the band was onstage and tuning up before they were introduced).
The band launched into the vocal number “Been Around,” sung by frontman James Nash. The band bounded out of the gate and never looked back. In one of the two best shows I’ve seen this year (the other being Zakir Hussain at Orchestra Hall) the band bounced over folk gallops, stomping Celtic dirges, smoldering bluegrass, and southern ballads.
Joe Kyle, Jr. deserves special credit; due to a mistake with Northwest Airlines, Kyle was forced to play a substitute bass at the last second. Anyone knows that stand up bass is one of the hardest, if not the single hardest instrument to get acclimated with – playing on someone else’s instrument and managing to sound good is a feat. While Stevie Coyle sounded fine on fingerstyle, as far as I could tell, he was too low in the mix, so it was hard to hear what he was doing most of the time.
The real stars of the show were guitarist James Nash and a new member, 23-year-old fiddle virtuoso Warren Hood. Throughout the night Nash and Hood traded licks and singing duties, never hitting a wrong note or playing without gorgeous tone. Hood’s compositions, while not yet recorded, were some of the finest and fieriest that I’ve heard the band take on. And if that weren’t enough, toward the end of the set, Nash strapped on a mandolin and took more ripping solos.
After leaving, all I could do was wonder how long it would take for this group to break. After going online, I see that they are now backing up Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir. It’s only a matter of time before the quintet breaks huge and you won’t be able to see them at venues like the Cedar with 50 people in attendance. They’ll most likely be playing festivals, theaters, and putting bands like Yonder Mountain String Band out of business. So if you get a chance to see them soon, take it.
Location Info:
Cedar Cultural Center
Artist Info: The Waybacks
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