Wood & Wire Head “Out with the Tide” (premiere)

Austin’s Wood & Wire are all about embracing the hard-working grit that their home state of Texas was built on. The Americana quartet’s newest album, North of Despair, is just on the horizon. On it, they find their stride in stories not about your standard, romanticized American west, but instead about the honest labor that raises up the state on a consistent basis. Wood & Wire aren’t shying back from facing the divisive realities of our country’s current state, either, as their newest single can attest.

Written by the band’s Tony Kamel as both an ode to his father following his death and a reflection on life in the U.S. today, “Out with the Ride” is bonafide bluegrass track with a nostalgic streak. Kamel tells PopMatters, “This is another one of my songs inspired by my father’s life and death. He used to say the most important things in life are modesty, honesty, and if you say you’re going to do something, you do it. He would have been disgusted by the current political climate based on said principles, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I wrote this song while watching the tides change on the Puget Sound on a day off while we were traveling. We recorded it standing around two ribbon mics in Arlington, Washington the next day.”

Wood & Wire’s North of Despair releases on 13 April via Blue Corn. The band is comprised of singer-songwriter and guitarist Tony Kamel, banjoist Trevor Smith, bassist Dom Fisher, and mandolinist Billy Bright.