By Peter Lindblad
It was a time of lawlessness and disorder, but nobody got hurt.
While making their 2025 album Puff of Smoke, The Wood Brothers refused to abide by any established guidelines, as the studio gave them the one thing they wanted.
“Full creative freedom where there were no rules,” said Oliver Wood, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. “So, we jumped around from different genres and sounds and things, and it just felt really free and sort of liberated.”
Described as “schizophrenic,” but not “in a bad way,” said Oliver, Puff of Smoke is a wildly eclectic journey through the city streets and backroads of Americana, and beyond. Bringing it all to life in a live setting has been an adventure, but they’ve got the situation under control.
“Yeah, I feel like translating the music to the stage is always like a really cool challenge, and we learn how to do it as we as we go,” said Oliver, who plays in The Wood Brothers with sibling Chris, a bassist and vocalist, and percussionist/multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix. “And we’ve been playing these songs live for several months now, so I think we have them. We got a handle on them, and they really sort of evolve when you play something live enough times.”
Oliver continued, saying the songs of Puff of Smoke “seem to fit well with our existing repertoire,” as The Wood Brothers will perform July 24 at the Door Auditorium in Fish Creek. Door County sticks out in Oliver’s memory, although he’s not sure when they played there last.
“I know we’ve played in that region, but we have not been there for years,” said Oliver. “But I have very fond memories of playing there and how beautiful it was, and, actually, how nice people were, and how happy they were to be there … how proud they were of their community.”
That’s something that left an impression on him. Puff of Smoke has done likewise with critics and fans alike, as Oliver and the Grammy-nominated trio focus on living in the moment and working at mindfulness at a time when the world seems to be going crazy – not that The Wood Brothers have got it all figured out.
“So, I think that a lot of times we’re writing about things that we’re practicing but maybe haven’t mastered yet,” said Oliver. “And I think, I don’t know … when I’ve [looked] back at songs, our songs over the years, they all seem to have themes that are things that we think about and read about and notice in the world and notice as we get older. And how to live in [it] content and without stress and healthy mentally, physically – all the ways. And so, some of them are sort of mantras for that kind of stuff.”
Locked away in their own studio in Nashville, The Wood Brothers played it footloose and fancy free in the recording process for Puff of Smoke.
“So, it’s a bit of a laboratory and kind of a clubhouse, I guess,” said Oliver. “It is a clubhouse, but also a laboratory where you can experiment, and we can do whatever we want. There’s no rules. And I think like it’s supposed to be fun, and we try to have sort of a childlike attitude about creating, and we’re not thinking about an audience, not thinking about people who like it.”
Indulging in experimentation is a Wood Brothers’ tradition, but Puff of Smoke isn’t a huge detour for the band.
“After all, it still sounds like the same three guys making noise. It’s just a different sound here and there,” said Oliver.
Songs like the brassy “Witness” and the Cuban-flavored “Pray God Listens” showcase a theatrical, quirky side to The Wood Brothers that’s inspired by the shambolic, Tin Pan Alley devolutions and weirdly compelling mischief of the gravelly voiced poet Tom Waits. Oliver said Waits is a “huge inspiration for us.”
An improvisational approach was called for, which The Wood Brothers are accustomed to taking.
“We had one record called Kingdom in My Mind a couple of records ago that was entirely improvised music, which then we sort of collaged together and wrote songs on top of them,” said Oliver. “And yeah, within each song, there are different amounts of improvising, but for instance, the song ‘The Trick,’ that’s one of the new ones. That was a song that we just had some lyrics and had a basic musical idea, and we just tried it a few times off-the-cuff in the studio and happened to get a really good recording. And it just turned out, and there’s plenty of improvisation. We never played it the same way twice.”
Going further, Oliver added, “We have other tunes that are a little more organized, but I think what makes us the happiest is having a basic idea going in and then being surprised at how it turns out.”
Described as “progressive Americana,” The Wood Brothers’ sound borrows liberally from blues, jazz, gospel and folk, as the two actual siblings were immersed in roots music at an early age. They grew up in Boulder, Colorado, sons of a scientist who recorded an album with Joan Baez.
Oliver ended up relocating to Atlanta, where he hooked up with Tinsley Ellis and later formed the bluesy funk and country concern King Johnson, while Chris studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, later co-founding the jazz fusion group Medeski Martin & Wood.
Starting out on different paths, Oliver and Chris eventually joined forces in the early 2000s, releasing their debut studio LP Ways Not to Lose in 2006. Puff of Smoke is their ninth album of original material. It looks at existence as always subject to change, especially with all today’s uncertainty. The Wood Brothers are dealing with that anxiety like everyone else.
“Some of these things about mindfulness … but mindfulness being present, being in the moment, and those are all ways to cope with the atmosphere of the day,” said Oliver. “And so, I think I’m sure we all get stressed out about it, and those are the things that we do to cope with it. So, I think the current climate [of] the world sort of gets filtered into the music, but it’s often on a subconscious level.”
In celebrating the 20th anniversary of their first album, The Wood Brothers will be “playing a bunch of those songs to honor that record” on this tour, along with fan favorites and deeper cuts.
Performing is in their blood, and Oliver is ready to get out on the road and do what he and Chris were born to do. What is Oliver looking forward to most of all?
“Well, just going to beautiful places and meeting nice people, and hopefully, making them real happy with music because I think that’s what it’s for,” said Oliver. “That’s the other thing, and I feel like the music really serves a purpose. I think I personally am a little more serious about my occupation in that I realize from years of doing it that [it] brings people together. And, you know, people will come up and mention that, like, ‘Hey, you got me through a tough time, this music really got me through a tough time.’ Or ‘My kids love it. They turned me on to it.’ Or ‘My parents turned me on to it,’ or however it goes.”
And so it goes for The Wood Brothers, a traveling band that enjoys its creative freedom.
