Biography
Although his recordings evoke vintage Southern sounds, Woody Pines originates from New Hampshire. He first honed his abilities at summer festivals along the west coast and through street performances in New Orleans with the Kitchen Syncopators, the ensemble he launched in 1998 together with Gill Landry. After spending four years immersed in music there while living modestly and sometimes settling rent with wine and Lucky Strikes, Pines exited the group and traveled northward to Ohio. He released his initial solo album, Rags to Riches, in 2006 and issued two further records the following year: the lo-fi garage effort Lonesome Shack Blues and a self-titled collection credited to Woody Pines & the Lonesome Two, which featured Tim Peacock on bass and Bram Riddlebarger on drums.
The Woody Pines band itself took shape in Athens, Ohio, during 2008, weaving together Pines’ varied influences into a rustic amalgam of ragtime, country blues, roots/Americana, rockabilly, and New Orleans-style jazz. The next year the group relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, to track Counting Alligators. Pines took his customary role on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, with Zack Pozebanchuk handling upright bass and Andy Tubb and Rennie Elliot sharing drum duties. The sessions were engineered by Gill Landry, Pines’ former Kitchen Syncopators associate who had replaced Critter Fuqua in Old Crow Medicine Show in 2008; Landry also performed on several tracks, as did Old Crow member Ketch Secor on fiddle. Darin Gentry, yet another fiddler who contributed, later became a permanent member of Woody Pines. Nathan Taylor eventually took over on drums, employing a stripped-down snare approach akin to Slim Jim Phantom’s role with the Stray Cats.
Parallels with Old Crow Medicine Show arise readily, given that both outfits represent the younger cohort of traditional string bands reviving interest in music from earlier eras through prolonged immersion and busking experience. Woody Pines’ sound, however, leans more deeply into the classic ragtime atmosphere of New Orleans. Pines has likewise developed a reputation as a virtuoso on the kazoo.
The Woody Pines band itself took shape in Athens, Ohio, during 2008, weaving together Pines’ varied influences into a rustic amalgam of ragtime, country blues, roots/Americana, rockabilly, and New Orleans-style jazz. The next year the group relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, to track Counting Alligators. Pines took his customary role on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, with Zack Pozebanchuk handling upright bass and Andy Tubb and Rennie Elliot sharing drum duties. The sessions were engineered by Gill Landry, Pines’ former Kitchen Syncopators associate who had replaced Critter Fuqua in Old Crow Medicine Show in 2008; Landry also performed on several tracks, as did Old Crow member Ketch Secor on fiddle. Darin Gentry, yet another fiddler who contributed, later became a permanent member of Woody Pines. Nathan Taylor eventually took over on drums, employing a stripped-down snare approach akin to Slim Jim Phantom’s role with the Stray Cats.
Parallels with Old Crow Medicine Show arise readily, given that both outfits represent the younger cohort of traditional string bands reviving interest in music from earlier eras through prolonged immersion and busking experience. Woody Pines’ sound, however, leans more deeply into the classic ragtime atmosphere of New Orleans. Pines has likewise developed a reputation as a virtuoso on the kazoo.
Albums