OXFORD: The Bullingdon

Friday 7th March, 2014

7:30pm

Event information

And, no, the band name is not inspired by your favourite western. In fact, the quintet’s creative heart are the three sons of Bill Wilson, a locally respected musician from Virginia. It’s now been almost six years since James, Seth & Abe Wilson got together with Seth Green on bass and Todd Wellons on drums to self-release their debut A Far Cry From Freedom. Beneath the somewhat homemade cover & booklet there was plenty of mature music: nothing less than a perfect synthesis of 70ies country rock, 90ies guitar rock and alt.country of the No Depression generation. The lyrics echoed heroes like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, chronicled small town life and portrayed people who had never been outside of the county they were born in.

As a teen, James Wilson enjoyed metal before he found Gram, Townes, Hank, Neil, Dwight & Co. Soon, his brothers were corralled and the rhythm section rounded up, songs written and tunes by the likes of Steve Earle, Tom Petty and Drive-By Truckers learned to round out a live set. Starting in the mid-90ies, Sons Of Bill focused on the rock in country rock and climbed to the top of the ladder next to acts like Poco, Reckless Kelly, Whiskeytown, the Long Ryders and Son Volt.

Three years later, in the summer of 2009, they managed to top their debut album in delivering ‘One Town Away’. This album, recorded with new drummer Brian Capouto, was released on Blue Rose and aided by first-class California producer Jim Scott (Whiskeytown, Wilco, Tom Petty, Neal Casal, BoDeans) who provided wonderful analog sounds for the guitars and shone a spotlight on the Wilson brothers’ lead & harmony vocals. Additionally, studio ace Greg Leisz played pedal & lap steel on a number of songs – contributing to a truly cosmic sound that captured the hearts of many country rock fans.

And now: ‘Sirens’. It took almost three years to complete this album. A band like Sons Of Bill cannot neglect the touring to focus on studio work – the money must keep coming in and a Kickstarter campaign alone cannot finance a producer like Cracker head David Lowery. Yes, the Wilson brothers, Seth Green and returned drummer Todd Wellons stayed close to home this time – they recorded ‘Sirens’ just a few miles east of their hometown at Lowery’s Sound Of Music in Richmond, VA. Acts like Sparklehorse, Trailer Bride, Clem Snide, Kingsbury Manx, Lucero, Magnolia Electric Co., Hotel Lights and, of course, Cracker have worked there before.