Wooden Wand has been around for a while and has come up with a batch of great albums with equally great music and even some greater lyrics. A great shape-shifter in his own right, in all those aspects he’s reminiscent of another author/chameleon, Will Oldham (currently Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy). That includes all those guises he’s played under - Wooden Wand, Wooden Wand & Vanishing Voice, James and the Quiet, or just his real name, James Jackson Toth (Waiting In Wain, from 2008 is probably the best Rolling Stones album they themselves haven’t made recently).
But, Wooden Wand is probably the moniker most music fans know him under, unfortunately, not that many yet. It is also the one he used for his latest outing, Clipper Ship. Yet another outstanding album that might not the attention it deserves. This time around, Both, has opted to remain completely in a more gentle, mainly acoustic musical setting, a bit closer to the one favored by his good friend Steve Gunn. Going that route requires outstanding musicianship, and he gets it from a team of stellar musicians like the guitarist Nathan Salsburg, and various members of Wilco, Califone and Eleventh Dream Day.
Unlike some other practitioners of this musical line, Toth has a great voice which comes to the fore on all seven tunes here.While on some other albums lyrics were the first thing to grab the attention of listeners, her the music and musicians are so good, that lyrics only catch on later. Songs like Mexican Coke and One Can Only Love (although you can say that for any of the seven here) simply grab and hold you with their atmospherics. But then you catch on Toth’s words, which always abound with strange stories and characters. While this was always the case with any of the guises he played under, on Clipper Ship they give the album an additional dimension, acting as some sort of a unit.
In essence, it is another great Wooden Wand, or James Jackson Both album, hopefully, more people will start listening.
