Plenty of brothers play together as kids, but how many form a band in their 40s?
Brothers Oliver and Chris Wood did, teaming up for roots band The Wood Brothers. The two were raised in a musical household — their father was a musician and had plenty of records around the house — and soon took different paths. Oliver went to Atlanta and formed roots band King Johnson while Chris moved to New York City and formed the experimental jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood.
After 15-odd years of separate careers and social circles, the two played a show together and realized that they should perform together. It was a long path to forming The Wood Brothers, but Oliver looks on the separation favorably.
“I think it was good for us in a way, because when we did get together to play we had already been teaching ourselves how to play for years and years, being on the road for years and years ... and also how to think about our personalities,” Oliver said. “We don’t have ego issues with each other or get competitive.”
It seems like their roots and jazz background would clash, but The Wood Brothers don’t limit themselves, incorporating funk, folk, soul and other styles.
“We don’t care for the genre thing that much,” he said. “A lot of artists don’t like to be classified.”
Oliver Wood casts a wide net in his musical inspiration — Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Charles Mingus are just a few of his influences.
They’re a diverse bunch, but what’s important to Oliver is that their “personality comes shining through,” giving them an iconic and genuine appeal.
“The music that we like and are drawn to has a certain simplicity to it,” he said.
Oliver takes that same tactic in his lyrics, which aim to be simple and arresting. His favorite songs use ambiguous lyrics to open up interpretations, an effect intriguing to Oliver.
“It’s that element of ambiguity that can make a song accessible to different people in different ways,” he said.
Connection to fans is energizing for Oliver, who recalled one song in particular, “Lovin’ Arms,” that resonated. The personal song was inspired by the loss of their mother to ALS.
“We had people come up to us and say ‘Hey, that’s how I just lost my mom or dad,’” he said. “When you get an interaction like that ... It makes me feel like what I’m doing is important, not an indulgence.”
The Wood Brothers will be coming to Music Farm this Wednesday night to share their rhythmic, upbeat songs. Their sound is generally crowd-pleasing, something that Oliver said was the result of performing music they enjoyed, not a reach for mass appeal. That being said, he does adjust his performance based on the venue.
“Every environment has a different vibe ... You’re Bruce Springsteen, you’re going to start writing anthems,” he said. “I can’t help but think ‘how will this song go down at the Music Farm,’ what’ll work there, y’know? You can’t help it.”
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