American Folk Trio The Wood Brothers to Perform at the Southern Theatre April 8

Dubbed "masters of soulful folk" by Paste, The Wood Brothers formed after brothers Chris and Oliver Wood pursued separate musical careers for 15 years. Chris already had legions of devoted fans for his incomparable work as one-third of Medeski Martin & Wood, while Oliver toured with Tinsley Ellis before releasing a half dozen albums with his band King Johnson. With drummer Jano Rix added as a permanent third member, it's become quite clear that The Wood Brothers are indeed the main act. Touring in support of their January 2020 release, Kingdom In My Mind.

CAPA presents The Wood Brothers at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Wednesday, April 8, at 8 pm. Tickets are $34.50 and $39.50 and can be purchased in-person at the CBUSArts Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), online at www.capa.com, or by phone at (614) 469-0939.

Recorded live to tape, freewheeling, improvised sessions became a vast pool of source material from which The Wood Brothers would go on to draw Kingdom In My Mind, their eighth studio release and most spontaneous and experimental collection yet. While on past records, the band would write a large batch of songs and then record them all at once, Kingdom found them retroactively carving tunes out of sprawling instrumental jam sessions like sculptors chipping away at blocks of marble. A testament to the limitless creativity of the unharnessed mind, the record explores the power of our external surroundings to shape our internal worlds (and vice versa), reckoning with time, mortality, and human nature. The songs here find strength in accepting what lies beyond our control, thoughtfully honing in on the bittersweet beauty that underlies doubt and pain and sadness with vivid character studies and unflinching self-examination. Deep as the lyrics dig, the arrangements always manage to remain buoyant and light, though, drawing from across a broad sonic spectrum to create a transportive, effervescent blend that reflects the trio’s unique place in the modern musical landscape.

Kingdom In My Mind follows The Wood Brothers’ most recent studio release, 2018’s One Drop Of Truth, which hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and garnered the band their first Grammy® nomination for Best Americana Album. NPR praised the record’s “unexpected changes and kaleidoscopic array of influences,” while Uncut hailed its “virtuosic performances and subtly evocative lyrics,” and Blurt proclaimed it “a career-defining album.” Tracks from the record racked up roughly 8 million streams on Spotify alone, and the band took the album on the road for extensive tour dates in the US in Europe, including their first-ever headline performance at Red Rocks, two nights at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore (captured on their 2019 release Live at The Fillmore), and festival appearances everywhere from Bonnaroo to XPoNential.