Photo by Ty Hyten
The Scene: By the time I walked into the Boulder Theater on Friday evening, well before the main act was slated to begin, the place was already completely packed in anticipation ofthe increasingly popular Wood Brothers.
With the snow begin to come down outside, the Boulder Theater was the best possible to place to hole up for the evening, to be with good friends, and even better strangers.
Opener: Kristina Train. A singer-songwriter hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Kristina Train kicked off the evening by giving us a taste of her incredible spirit, paired with her beautiful singing voice, skills on the guitar and a good ol’ sense of humor. For the first bout of music this evening, Train played with a fellow musician, Paul from Brooklyn, and the duo performed a number of original, and impressive, tunes.
One of these tunes, “Homemade Bong,” turned out to be a love song for which Train brought out the fiddle. Most of the tunes were slower songs speaking of love and life, and the approximately 40-minute set gave us a warmly welcomed taste of the immensely talented Katrina Train.
The singer-songwriter was humbled and graceful before taking her leave of the stage, and it seemed the full house was just as humbled by the talent they had just witnessed.
Wood Brothers: Personally, I don’t get the chance to the Wood Brothers nearly enough, so this show had been a long-anticipated one. The trio, consisting of brothers Chris and Oliver Wood and drummer Jano Rix, have as much on-stage charisma as a 7-piece band, and thus inevitably had the place rockin’ by the middle of their first tune “Stumbled In.” “Stumbled In” is a slow and sensual track that blasted the heat throughout the venue and set the pace for what would be one overwhelmingly amazing evening of twangy, soulful music.
The Brothers keep things original when they perform, especially when it comes to their one-set shows. Though it’s natural to love the lengthy show that is the result of the two-set format, it’s an absolute breath of fresh air to hear such solid performers play one long set, full of gusto, personality energy.
The show consisted of a number of song very familiar to me including “Who The Devil,” “Keep Me Around” and “The Muse.” These tunes I jam to all day, every day, and the audience seemed to be diggin’ them as much as I was. What’s even better, though, is hearing less familiar songs from such a kickass band, and jammin’ out to them like they’ve your all-time favorites. This new-to-me numbers included “Blue and Green,” “Mary Anna” and “Shoofly Pie,” the last of which was especially ideal for getting the crowd dancing and grooving. But it wasn’t just the crowd who was dancing and romping around, but Chris Wood as well, who had Jagger-like moves as he slid and shook his hips across the stage, to the pleasure of those in the audience.
Slower tunes were performed to create a strategically well-rounded set of fast and slow, upbeat and laid-back. These songs we swayed and sang along to, such as “Lovin’ Arms” and “Wastin’ My Mind.” Songs like these boasted the gruff and oh-so-sexy vocals that Oliver Wood brings to the band, a voice that is incomparable to all else and pairs with the Brothers’ catalogue flawlessly.
Sometime during the set, the brothers announced that it was their father’s birthday, and chose to sing a tune dedicated to dear ol’ dad. The sentiment received an ovation from the audience, who must have an appreciation, as I do, for when our musical heroes portray themselves as mere humans – just like the rest of us.
The highlight of the night, however, would be when the trio brought Katrina and Paul out for a short bit of collaboration at which point the five-some broke out in a rendition of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” which was all too fitting for the snowy Colorado evening.
The intimate show this night would be a precursor to a weekend chalk-full of string music, with the Wood Brothers headed up to WinterWonderGrass festival the following day. I would like to think that us folks down on the Front Range were treated to the most intimate of the weekend Wood Brothers shows – or at least that’s how it felt.
Overall, the beloved trio that is known as the Wood Brothers never fails to bring out all the steps, guiding their audiences to gut-wrenching, overwhelming elation as they play and sing and dance to heaven – as the angelic and insanely talented musicians that they are.
Energy: A+
Musicianship: A+
Sound: A+
Stage Presence: A+
Set/Light Show: B
Overall: A
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