For Oliver Wood, detachment is the key to maintaining a semblance of sanity in this crazy life. “The trick is not to give a damn,” he says. “We beat ourselves up with self-doubt and constant worry. How nice would it be to be more bold and ignorant? Not giving a damn seems like the goal if you want to stay present, positive and creative.”
And that’s the gist of the Wood Brothers’ new single. Easier said than done perhaps, but it’s those sorts of cognitive insights that inform Puff Of Smoke, available August 1 via Honey Jar/Thirty Tigers. Mostly recorded at the Studio Nashville, the trio’s creative home away from home, it’s the Wood Brothers’ third LP since scoring a Grammy nomination for 2018’s One Drop Of Truth. Seven years later, Oliver, younger brother Chris and close pal Jano Rix continue to evolve as an unpredictable Americana force to be reckoned with.
Oliver has aptly described the Wood Brothers’ latest batch of tunes as “schizophrenic.” It’s the sort of thing that happens when you’re fleshing out shells of songs in the studio through a largely off-the-cuff recording process. A few tracks were even nailed on the first take—including “The Trick,” which was built on a Fender Rhodes piano run through distortion and octave pedals.
“We didn’t know where this one was going to end up until we just played it,” says Oliver. “While sonically it’s a different recipe, it has an energy most of our fans can appreciate.”
We’re proud to premiere the Wood Brothers’ “The Trick.”
—Hobart Rowland
See the Wood Brothers live.
