“I saw some amazing stuff. Talking Heads, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Tom Petty and ZZ Top,” he recalls. “All stuff that made a huge impression on me as a young man, never dreaming I’d ever play there.”
Oliver kickstarted his musical career after moving to Atlanta, where he landed a spot touring with Tinsley Ellis, before forming his own blues-rock band, King Johnson. He would eventually team up with his brother, Chris, who previously put together and played with jazz fusion group Medeski Martin & Wood.
In 2001, the Wood Brothers, which currently includes multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix, broke onto the scene with a mad mix of folk, gospel, blues and Americana. Since then, the student has become the teacher, as the trio’s released eight albums of originals, including the Grammy-nominated One Drop of Truth (2018). The Wood Brothers taken the Red Rocks stage a few times, too.
“Now we play there pretty regularly. Every couple of years we have a Red Rocks show. It’s just like going home,” Oliver says.
The Brothers Wood will be back there again on Friday, July 18, opening for String Cheese Incident. SCI, originally from Crested Butte, is also playing Saturday, July 19, with Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country.
Oliver Wood recalls growing up and seeing shows at Red Rocks. Now, he and the Wood Brothers are the ones on stage.
Courtesy the Wood Brothers
The Wood Brothers have a special little homecoming surprise to share with the Colorado crowd — new music. The band’s ninth album, Puff of Smoke, drops on Friday, August 1, via Honey Jar/Thirty Tigers, but the siblings have a couple freshies for the setlist.
“You still get excited because we’re excited about the newness and the fresh creativity we put into it,” he explains. “Each time is an adventure and you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. We like keeping the spirit of that.”
The eleven latest songs seamlessly jump between genres, a Wood Brothers trademark. The previously shared singles — “The Trick,” “Pray God Listens” and “Witness” — are indicative of that vibrant variety. As Oliver outlines, that’s not necessarily intentional, but a result of letting the muse move them in whatever direction it desires.
“We write some songs, we go in the studio, but then we don’t know what we’re going to do. We know what we’re not going to do; we’re not going to repeat what we’ve done before,” he adds. “We’re going to try new things, instruments and recording techniques. It’s always exciting. There’s a curiosity that never goes away.
Not having a plan is the plan. That much has stayed the same over the last two-plus decades.
“The plan is always to make it fun to record and to make it fun to make a record. It’s never like, ‘We need a hit song.’ It’s a privilege,” he says. “It’s really fun to sink your teeth into making an album and creating something from scratch.
“Having done it for so many years, it’s still really exciting every time. To see how it turns out is awesome,” Oliver continues. “It’s like you don’t know how your baby’s going to turn out until you get to meet them when they’re born.”
Instead of carrying around pictures of Puff of Smoke, the Wood Brothers get to show off their latest pride and joy through touring. And Oliver knows Red Rocks is going to be a proper album shower.
“Few places in the world are such destinations. There’s such a vibe because people are just happy to be there, no matter what the music is,” he says.
“It’s an incredible space under the stars with the beautiful rocks and view of Denver from up on the mountain,” he continues, adding that for a 9,500-person venue, it still feels intimate to him from the stage.
“You never know what you’re going to get. The weather can change at any moment. It’s dramatic. It can be freezing. It can be roasting hot, but everybody’s just happy to be there,” Oliver concludes.
“It’s such a magical destination to begin with that it sets a tone that you don’t get every day. Take away my nostalgia for it, I just love that feeling.”
The Wood Brothers, with the String Cheese Incident, 5 p.m. Friday, July 18, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway. Tickets are $91.
