"It's the freest album we've done, the most independent album we've done,
and was the most fun we've ever had making a record," says Oliver Wood. "And
most importantly, this is the most purely Wood Brothers' album we've ever
made."
Indeed, The Wood Brothers' sixth outing, 'One Drop of Truth,' dives
headfirst into a deep wellspring of sounds, styles and influences. Whereas
their previous outings have often followed a conceptual and sonic
through-line, here the long-standing trio featuring brothers Oliver and
Chris Wood along with Jano Rix treat each song as if it were its own short
film. The plaintive, country-folk of the album's opening track "River Takes
The Town" gives way to the The Band-esque Americana soul of "Happiness
Jones." The wistful ballad "Strange As It Seems" floats on a cloud of stream
of consciousness, standing in stark contrast to "Sky High"—a Saturday night
barnburner built upon stinging slide guitar funk. "Seasick Emotions" is rife
with turmoil, yet "Sparking Wine" is jaunty and carefree. The end result is
undeniably The Wood Brothers' most dynamic recording to date.
Building off the success of their previous studio album, 2015's 'Paradise,'
which was dubbed "the warmest, most sublime and occasionally rowdiest Wood
Brothers release yet," by American Songwriter, the band found themselves at
a fortuitous crossroads. Following a tour with Tedeschi Trucks Band,
high profile festival dates and sold out headline shows, the band felt free
from the cyclical album release, tour, write, record and
do-it-all-over-again pressures of the traditional music business. With all
three members living in Nashville affording easy access to each other and a
wealth of local independent studios at their disposal, they started work in
January of 2017 with a new approach.
"Instead of going into one studio and recording it all at the same time, we
picked a couple studios, and started to experiment," says Chris Wood.
"Sometimes we'd just make demos of songs to see if we got anything we liked.
There was no pressure, and that really freed us up. We just did one or two
songs a day, put it aside, let the songs simmer, and then we'd have a fresh
perspective on what was working or not working. You need time to go by to
gain objectivity."
The band extended this approach to the mixing process, sending tracks tofour
different mixing engineers, each selected based on what the song demanded.
Scotty Hard (who's worked extensively with Medeski Martin & Wood, among
others) was recruited for the "edgier, funkier tunes," "Sky High" and
"Happiness Jones." Mike Poole (who worked on The Wood Brothers album 'The
Muse') mixed "Sparkling Wine" and "Strange As It Seems." Their old friend
Brandon Belle from Zac Brown's studio Southern Ground took on "Laughin' Or
Crying." The remainder of the album was mixed by Grammy Award-winning
engineer Trina Shoemaker, especially sought after by The Wood Brothers for
her work with Brandi Carlile.
While the songs on 'One Drop of Truth' achieve the goal of standing on their
own, a few common themes did, inevitably, emerge. Water—whether in a
teardrop, a storm, a river or a libation—was being used as a metaphor in the
search for truth and happiness. Chris Wood's "Seasick Emotion," one of two
songs he sings on the collection serves as a prime example: "All the blue
sky is gone / How can I get out of bed / This hurricane in my head / I'm
just a boat in a storm / How can I know where to go / When everything that I
know / Is already lost in the wind." "That one was written last fall during
a hurricane, while at the same time the election was coming up, and there
was all this crazy energy in the world," Chris reveals. "I definitely got
swept away emotionally by everything that was going on."
Album opener, "River Takes the Town," takes on both figurative and literal
meaning. It was completed just as a series of hurricanes were decimating
parts of the U.S.: "It's been a few days since I heard any word from you /
and I don't sleep easy, I don't sleep easy / and the rain keeps comin', the
rain keeps comin' / nothin's ever for certain / 'til the levee breaks down /
the water comes in and the river / the river takes the town."
Though emotional struggle is a recurring thread, so is the comforting truth
of how much wisdom comes from the hard times. The song "Happiness Jones",
was based on a news article Oliver read about how our society is addicted to
happiness, antidepressants, and the distorted "happy" reality social media
can depict. As a result, people feel like it's unnatural to be sad, yet.
sadness can be a gift: "All of my wisdom came from all the toughest days / I
never learned a thing bein' happy / all of my sufferin' came / I didn't
appreciate it / I never learned a thing being happy."
Fittingly titled, 'One Drop of Truth,' the latest entry in The Wood Brothers
evolution finds three musicians being true to themselves. At a point in
their career where most artists would be looking to strategically position
themselves for even greater commercial success, they instead turned to
artistic expression in service of the muse. In chaotic times when honesty is
in short supply and ulterior motives seem to always be at play, The Wood
Brothers put faith in themselves and ultimately their audience by writing
and recording a collection of songs that is honest and pure. As they sing on
the album's title track: "Rather die hungry / than feasting on lies / Give
me one drop of truth / I cannot deny."
João Gomes
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