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Woody Pines ~ National Guitar, harmonica, cord organ, kazoo, banjo.
Zack Pozebanchuk ~ Bass.
Nathan Taylor ~ stripped down drums
Darin Gentry ~ Fiddle
Influences
Charlie Chaplin, Uncle Dave Macon, Bob Dylan, Erik Weisz, Buddy Rich, Mark Twain, Mississippi John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, Ma Rainy, Emmett Miller, Frank lemon, Jack Elliot, Huddie Ledbetter, Johnny Mercer, Baby Gramps, Harry Lillis Crosby, Hank Williams, Leon Redbone,
"How many artists, besides the late Johnny Cash, open with a prison song? Roots and blues musician Woody Pines probably found himself in an exclusive club when he started off a recent Orange Peel set with the song “99 Years.”
The thing about Pines (whose band borrows its front man’s stage name) is that he’s such a consummate player, such an upbeat personality, that not only can he get away with such a stunt, he can turn the concept of hard time into party time. (All things considered, that style could well be prime for a resurgence.)
Pines, when he’s not logging tour miles (and he tours near-constantly: His MySpace page boasts that “He left home with his guitar on his back and made it through 49 states before he was 19.") can often be found busking around downtown Asheville. He brings that low-key street corner style of performance to his stage show, but with all the polish and seasoned professionalism of a tour-bus-and-green-room rock stardom.
If Pines’ elegantly-disheveled fedora and vintage resonator guitar don’t set the mood (both are strongly suggestive of the musician’s mix of ragtime, country blues and lightning-speed folk), the backing band does the trick. Sometimes known as The Lonesome Two (standup bassist Zack Pozebanchuk and kit-drummer Rennie Elliot), the band was expanded for the opening slot at the Orange Peel—a local showcase—with the addition of Pisgah Forest fiddler Darrin Gentry and New Orleans multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand.
Nealand’s accordion provided plenty of gypsy-eque ambiance, but it was her fiery turns on tenor sax—especially on a Depression-era number—that elevated the Woody Pines set to the next level. Nealand, with recently cropped hair, looks like Bob Dylan’s love child and plays like an all-state band champ who took to hopping trains and frequenting speakeasies.
In fact, every member of Woody Pines seems storied and steeped in the best of Americana (the culture, not the alt-country musical genre). While some classical training is likely, these musicians ooze authenticity and passion with each note.
Crackerjack musicianship goes a long way toward a band’s greatness, but showmanship seals the deal. Pines, on stage, is an old soul and natural performer, unabashed on kazoo, easily engaging the audience ("Let us be the first band to play you your first Halloween song of the year,” he said—this was a January concert—before launching into spooky Appalachian tune “Red Rocking Chair"), and even managing to pull off a sing-along. A feat for any band; monumental for an opener. -Alli Marshall, Mountain Xpress
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"A delightful group with a rock solid sexy old time vaudville hill-billy groove" -Sxip Shirey of the Luminescent Orchestrii
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"...a taste of Southern folk and blues, spinning both country and jazz
into a musical depiction of America's Southern roots." -The Daily
Athenaeum, Morgantown, WV
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"In a pinch, Pines and his pair of cohorts might be described as a group that makes the type of American roots music that sounds good coming out of a busted AM radio speaker. In a tinny but effective voice that would make Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan proud, Pines croons about rounders, trains and good gals long gone, over a bouncy and unhurried blues picking style that keeps toes tapping with ease." ~ High Country Press, Boone, N. Carolina
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Woody Pines plays hollow notes that sound like they are reverberating in the basement of some neighbor’s house. Imagine if you took The Beta Band’s single vocal, stripped them of all sound and then replaced the feel of The Old Crow Medicine show, adding drops of Bob Dylan and John Prine — that’s Woody Pines.
Thanks for the add. Really love'in you tunes. Hopefully I can see you when you come to Canada. Saskatoon, Sask is a great place to play, make sure its part of the tour.
It would appear that you and your birthday status almost completes this Grand Trine, oh well never mind :) Delta Bound is still one of my favorites that I witnessed while recording you one fine day :) Artichoke dip and all ... I have a few hungry band members to attend to now so ... Ciao for now
Walk through the Arch-Way of free Acqui Terme to find coyote living in a pretty how town in Sector 5 of free Savoy
Thanks for becoming citizens of Sector 5 of free Savoy. I hope you will return to this sector of freedom and watch the approaching autumn colors of unity.
"all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep"
-e.e. cummings
Ascend the stairs to enter the Mirror-Gate room of Frascheto.