When he’s not touring with The Wood Brothers—the Grammy‑nominated roots trio he co‑founded in 2006—Oliver Wood greets each morning at home in Nashville with a coffee cup in hand and a notebook in his lap. “There’s a chair in my living room, right in front of a window,” he explains. “Every morning, I go down there to drink my coffee, meditate, and write. It’s like a therapy session for me, because I can write without any specific goal in mind. I can be creative without being self‑judgmental.” It was in that very chair that many of the songs on his second solo album, Fat Cat Silhouette, began to take shape. Produced by Wood Brothers bandmate Jano Rix, the record veers off the beaten path—abandoning convention, breaking a few rules, and showcasing Wood as a roots‑music innovator who prizes process as much as the final product.
Among the most prolific artists on today’s Americana scene, Seth Walker is a multi‑dimensional talent whose gospel‑drenched Southern voice and deft guitar work have made him a fixture on blues and roots radio. Raised on a commune in rural North Carolina by classically trained musicians, Walker first found his voice on the cello before discovering the guitar in his twenties. Introduced to the blues by his uncle, disc jockey and musician Landon Walker, he drew inspiration from T‑Bone Walker, Snooks Eaglin, and B.B. King. Now on his twelfth studio album—Why The Worry—Walker builds on a career that has landed him in the Top 20 of the Americana Radio Charts, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, and earned praise from NPR, American Songwriter, No Depression, and Relix.
Longtime friends and frequent collaborators, Oliver Wood and Seth Walker will tour together this spring, bringing their distinctive but complementary styles to venues across the Midwest. Their stop at Evanston SPACE (1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60202) on Tuesday, April 29, promises an evening of solo sets and a shared finale. Walker opens the night with a full performance, followed by Wood, and the two close the show together with co‑written tracks “Grab Ahold” (from Fat Cat Silhouette) and “Why The Worry” (the title track of Walker’s new album). Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 7:30 p.m.
“Oliver Wood is one of our best rock ‘n’ roll songwriters, setting quirky, John Prine‑like aphorisms to gospel‑soul singalongs,” raves Paste. The Vinyl District adds, “Seth Walker is an accomplished guitarist and an even better singer, distilling the soul of Ray Charles, the Southern‑boy roots charm of Delbert McClinton, and an uptown blues turn of phrase (à la Percy Mayfield) into his own distinct voice.”
