Most
people think of bluegrass as music for old people, and Alex Kirt of
the Woodbox Gang doesn't disagree. He calls it "timeless," but
as a performer that has one big advantage.
By the time you hit age 50 or so, you can't credibly play metal, punk, or hard-rock music. "You're probably going to look ridiculous," said Kirt, a singer and multi-instrumentalist with the southern-Illinois "trashcan Americana" band that will be performing at the Bent River Brewing Company on Saturday, April 7. And the age-imperviousness of bluegrass is important, because the 33-year-old wants to be playing this music "forever."
The demographics of bluegrass have gotten younger with the roots-music revival of the past decade. Bluegrass festivals were dominated by gospel, he said, and the only young people were the children of middle-aged patrons. That's changed, he said, and it underscores the lasting appeal of roots music, inured from musical fads.
"Little kids like it, and old people like it, and everything in between," Kirt said. "It can appeal to such a wide group of people. It's the kind of music that you can keep playing your whole life and never get too old to play it. ... It's timeless."
The "trashcan Americana" label hints that the Woodbox Gang - which has made regular stops in the Quad Cities since 2005 - isn't your traditional bluegrass outfit. Similar to the way that Split Lip Rayfield (which performed at River Roots Live in 2005) is bluegrass on speed, Woodbox Gang is bluegrass in a blender, informed by a punk aesthetic.
"I would say people who like Split Lip Rayfield would probably like us," Kirt said. "I think we might have a little more emphasis on the lyrics. And they seem to play a lot more really, really fast songs, while I think we incorporate more mid-tempo, two-four shuffle-beat stuff. People really like to dance to our stuff."
The band's newest CD, Drunk as Dragons, was released late last year and borrows liberally from other genres. To cite just two examples, "Bad Veins" takes its rhythm fills and vibe from reggae, while the lead track ("Shadow of Tom") matches the banjo lead with what sounds like a tuba and other oddball, ancient instrumentation recalling Tom Waits.
"We don't play traditional anything," Kirt said.
Hailing from the town of Makanda, Illinois (2005 population: 416 people), the five-piece group has spent the past several years trying to expand its geographic reach. The band's discography has suffered, and Drunk as Dragons is its first studio disc since 2003.
The eight-year-old band, Kirt said, was getting frustrated, and decided to focus on touring rather than recording. "We've got so much material, and it was like we weren't spreading out any farther than the region we live in," he said.
He added that the band felt that it wasn't getting a fresh perspective on what it was doing because it was playing to the same crowds. "We're cheating, because these guys really like us, and they've known us for a long time," he said. "The true test of seeing if the band's going to be able to appeal to people all over the country is to take it out and play it for them all over the country and see how they respond."
And that's what the Woodbox Gang has done. The group will be playing festivals in California and Montana this summer.
Vocalist and guitarist Hugh DeNeal is the lead songwriter for the Woodbox Gang, Kirt said, bringing something akin to epic poetry to the table. "He's a really prolific lyricist," he said. "He'll write a song that might be 30 verses long with no chorus."
The group then works out the tune, arranges it, and pares it down into something digestible.
One striking element of the band's sound is that each song is clearly distinct from every other track; Woodbox Gang manages that difficult balance between a signature sound and a diversity that recognizes the group's expansive interests.
Kirt agreed that the band's CDs are "really broad. But essentially, the sound of the band is still there no matter what the tempo or style." He compared it to what the Beatles or Led Zeppelin did, exploring different territories but never abandoning that core sound. "I think it actually keeps people a little more interested."
Woodbox Gang will perform at 10 p.m. at Bent River Brewing Company in Moline. Cover is $3.
For more information on the Woodbox Gang, visit (http://www.woodboxgang.homestead.com).
