Chris and Oliver Wood found their individual ways into music before forming the Wood Brothers in the mid 2000s. Chris was a part of the jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood while Oliver played in the roots combo King Johnson. It was about fifteen years before the pair played together when Oliver sat in with Medeski, Martin and Wood.
Soon they were recording together performing songs written by Oliver and drawing from the music they heard in their youth. John Medeski produced their first album Ways Not to Lose and it earned the group high praise from critics.
The group’s music is difficult to categorize and according to Chris, that was part of their plan from day one.
Now with seven full length albums, the Wood Brothers remain difficult to categorize but easily accessible. According to Chris, “So we’re always striking that balance. We want our music to be accessible. We’re not out to do things that are so out there and challenging. But for me, what’s exciting is to create accessible music that is also not what you’d expect musically.”
The current tour is their first time to play songs from the new Kingdom in My Mind live to an audience. Wood says “There are certain songs that come together in the studio in such a way that you have to reinvent them a little bit for the live performance, which we love to do anyway. And we often rearrange old songs to make them come across a little different, make them interesting in new ways. Yeah, it’s all part of the fun challenge” .
