The Wood Brothers

Brothers Chris and Oliver Wood join forces with multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix in the roots music trio the Wood Brothers, whose sound merges folk, blues, gospel, and jazz in a signature style. Since emerging in the late 2000s, the group has issued a series of well-received studio efforts, among them the 2015 release Paradise, which topped Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and the 2018 album One Drop of Truth, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. Long celebrated for their energetic stage presence, the Wood Brothers have also documented several live performances while their more recent studio outings, Kingdom in My Mind (2020) and Heart Is the Hero (2023), adopted an increasingly relaxed and instinctive recording process.

Raised in Boulder, Colorado, Chris on upright bass and vocals alongside Oliver on guitar and vocals absorbed American roots traditions early through their parents; each later pursued separate paths, with Chris gaining broad recognition in the 1990s as a member of the exploratory jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood and Oliver leading the Atlanta-based funky roots ensemble King Johnson. By the mid-2000s the siblings’ trajectories converged, leading them to form the Wood Brothers with Rix, sign with Blue Note, and deliver their 2006 debut Ways Not to Lose. Although commercial results were modest, critics responded favorably, prompting the 2008 follow-up Loaded, which further probed an earthy blend of American idioms.

The eight-song covers collection Up Above My Head appeared before 2011’s Smoke Ring Halo, the band’s first project for the Southern Ground imprint. Acknowledged as a premier concert draw, the Wood Brothers issued two live albums in 2012—Live, Vol. 1: Sky High and Live, Vol. 2: Nail and Tooth. Their 2013 studio set The Muse achieved the group’s initial chart placement, registering across the country, folk, indie, and rock tallies. Paradise, released two years later, improved on that showing by reaching number one on the Heatseekers survey and widening the trio’s audience. For their sixth album the Wood Brothers pursued a freer methodology, tracking material gradually across multiple facilities while testing new variations on their approach; the resulting One Drop of Truth arrived in early 2018, again leading the Heatseekers chart and earning the aforementioned Grammy nomination. In January 2020, now partnered with Thirty Tigers, the band issued Kingdom in My Mind, an album shaped by extended jam sessions. Three years afterward the group pared their sound further on the eighth LP, Heart Is the Hero, which was captured straight to analog tape to capture the trio’s live configuration inside the studio.