The Wiyos
Broken Land Bell
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also available on cd baby
This fourth disc from this genre-crossing group is a wild car ride, with a driver whose judgment and skills to the uninitiated might be suspect, but to the passengers is one thrill after another. This group, which at this time is opening for the Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson/ John Mellencamp summer tour, presents us with their first disc of all original material. This band presents a sound that is rooted way back in time with the music that is of today in a way that makes this become the sounds of tomorrow. It takes the wonderful western swing of Bob Wills, the blues of Blind Willie McTell, the jazz of The Washboard Rhythm Kings (who at times featured the likes of Jellyroll Morton and Henry “Red” Allen), and combines them with the musings of a Beck with the creativity of a Beatles disc. This is one of those bands that is probably not going to get a lot of airplay because they don’t fit into a safe little niche, except perhaps on community radio stations that you may find on the web like
WWOZ New Orleans, KXCI (Tucson) or KCRJ Gulch Radio (Jerome). This is adventurous music that truly can be labeled roots because it comes from the foundations of the music that is today’s sound.
Take a listen to “Stomp” a low-down nasty, but tasty, bit of blues from the Delta but done with some mouth-trumpet singing and great scat; or maybe the bluegrassy blues romp that is “All Aboard” is more to your liking. The voices here do truly become other instruments thus expanding the sound of this band. This is a wild ride and one that has its thrills in mixing the vintage with the ultra modern. A rare gem that is both slick and as raw as can be, a heady mixture.