Surprise! The first Lagniappe SuperSession is a birthday party gathering of 33 artists interpreting the music of songwriter, James Toth. The songs in this collection cover over 20 years of music from James’ career, from his early band Golden Calves to his last Wooden Wand record, Clipper Ship. Featuring artists Woods, Marisa Anderson, Lee Ranaldo, William Tyler, Ryley Walker, Tashi Dorji (as Mount), Thurston Moore, Meg Baird, and 25 more, the range of styles and sounds on this compilation show off the universality of Toth’s impressive oeuvre.
Category: Wooden Wand
Don’t Forget To Die: A Few Reflections on David Berman
August 7th, tragic news broke that David Berman, poet and leader of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, had passed away. A chronicler of despair and beauty, Bermans’ work casts a long shadow. Here, Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth reflects on his singular stature and remembers the man.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Wooden Wand / Second Session
Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun ‘lan-ˌyap,’ — 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus. Earlier this month we caught up with James Jackson Toth whose long-running Wooden Wand project […]
Wooden Wand :: Clipper Ship
James Jackson Toth (AKA Wooden Wand ) gets plenty of praise for his eccentrically evocative lyrics. But on Clipper Ship, his latest album for the mighty Three Lobed Records , it’s the sound that draws […]
Every Sound Means Something: Wooden Wand Interviews Matt “MV” Valentine
I have already sung the praises of Matt “MV” Valentine elsewhere. For the Google-averse, I can sum it up by saying that MV’s music–both with and without his partner, co-conspirator […]
Wooden Wand :: Farmer’s Corner
Just minutes into the album — with a shambolic instrumental rumble and a dour delivery of urgency — James Jackson Toth, aka Wooden Wand, mutters “the thing I have been […]
Wooden Wand & The World War IV
The sheer sprawl of James Jackson Toth’s discography — usually released under some iteration of the Wooden Wand moniker — can be intimidating. Where to begin? I humbly submit that this latest […]
Wooden Wand Interviews William Tyler Interviews Wooden Wand
It was somehow agreed upon during my conversation with William Tyler t hat he would do the transcribing — the difficult, tedious part — and I would write the intro. This is consistent […]
Wooden Wand Interviews Steve Gunn
Among certain critics and cultural trainspotters, there exists a colloquialism — ‘gamechanger’ — to denote a brazen, unexpected creative leap by an already respected and established artist. The risk of […]
Wooden Wand Interviews Hiss Golden Messenger
When I was fifteen years old, I wrote MC Taylor a fan letter. At the time, he played in a hardcore band I liked called Ex-Ignota. I was a big […]
Are Your Songs Rabbits? :: Wooden Wand Interviews Howe Gelb
Our Longshots series returns with two of the more prolific voices working in music today — Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth and Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb; both of whom just saw […]
Wooden Wand :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Wrapping one’s head around the music of Wooden Wand , the ongoing project of idiosyncratic singer/songwriter James Jackson Toth takes some effort. With over 100 releases to his name, from spiraling freak-out […]
Wooden Wand :: Lagniappe Sessions
Lagniappe (la ·gniappe) noun ‘lan-ˌyap,’ — 1. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. 2. Something given or obtained as a gratuity or bonus. Whether recording as Wooden Wand , under his own […]