Oliver Wood brought his ongoing tour to New York last night with a performance at the new and improved City Winery. The NYC show continued Wood’s stretch of shows with vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix and vocalist/bassist Ted Pecchio in support of his recent solo album, Always Smilin’.
While the main stage at the new City Winery location is as cavernous as it is beautiful, Wood and company still managed to make the two-hour performance feel like an intimate affair. The setlist unsurprisingly featured a number of selections from Always Smilin’ including “Soul of This Town“, a song about gentrification co-written with Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger); “Fine Line”, a relic from Wood’s King Johnson days that he retooled for the new record; “Climbing High Mountains”, a reworked Gospel ditty; “Molasses”, a powerful slow-burn co-written by singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton, who happened to be in the audience at the show; and “Kindness”, the swaggering mission statement of the new LP.
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Oliver Wood played host as much as he sang lead, explaining the backstories behind songs with affable charisma. One selection, The Wood Brothers‘ “Lovin’ Arms”, had taken on added significance on this tour. While the song was written about Wood’s mother when her battle with ALS progressed to where she could no longer hug her sons, Oliver explained that it had taken on new meaning in the last year as people everywhere yearned for that long-lost human contact. On this tour, he surmised, “Lovin’ Arms” was an homage to all the hugs we missed in 2020.
True to form, Wood, Rix, and Pecchio also experimented with unconventional instruments throughout the show. At one point Wood, who had already cycled through various guitars new and old, grabbed a particularly worn-looking acoustic and explained that it was the same model as one of the early guitars played by B.B. King (“If it’s good enough for B.B., it’s good enough for me”) before introducing Pecchio’s ukulele bass and Rix’s haggard-looking acoustic—affectionately known as the “Shitar”—which he primarily used for percussion. The set finally closed out with another Wood Brothers staple, “Postcards From Hell”.
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Mixed in with the Always Smilin’ material and more Wood Brothers favorites were a handful of well-placed blues covers, including an encore double-dip of Memphis Minnie‘s “Chevrolet” and Allen Toussaint‘s “Get Out Of My Life, Woman”.
Scroll down to check out a gallery of photos from the Oliver Wood performance at City Winery courtesy of photographer Lou Montesano.
Related: Oliver Wood Brings ‘Always Smilin’ Tour To Exeter, NH’s The Word Barn [Photos]
After wrapping up the ongoing Oliver Wood tour on Wednesday, July 14th in Rochester, Wood and Jano Rix will link back up with Chris Wood for a lengthy summer Wood Brothers tour. For a list of upcoming The Wood Brothers 2021 tour dates, head here.
Listen to Always Smilin’ by Oliver Wood below. Read our full feature interview with Wood about the new album here.
Oliver Wood – Always Smilin’ – Full Album
