Wooden Wand
Wooden Wand is one moniker of singer-songwriter James Jackson Toth, who has recorded under his given name as well as the name WAND. Having over 100 releases from proper albums to handmade CDRs to limited-edition vinyl, Toth is by all accounts an astoundingly prolific artist. The style of music recorded by Toth and his many incarnations has drawn on a variety of both conventional and experimental folk and rock influences, including psych folk, acid folk, freak-folk, free folk, and indie. Though he was significant player in the New Weird America trend of the early- to mid-2000s (decade) along with Devendra Banhart, Akron/Family, Joanna Newsom, and collaborators The Vanishing Voice, Toth has been difficult to pigeonhole in one genre; recent releases have been identified as acid-folk, free-jazz, outlaw country, and country-tinged rock.
Wooden Wand's collaborations have been nearly as wandering and nomadic as Toth himself, a New York native who attended Purchase College before relocating to Knoxville, TN; Murfreesboro, TN and most recently, Lexington, KY. He has recorded with the Vanishing Voice (who went on to form Woods and Jex Thoth), the Sky High Band, the Omen Bones Band, and the Briarwood Virgins (a Birmingham, AL supergroup featuring members of the Gum Creek Killers, Through the Sparks, Plate Six, and the now-defunct Verbena). Toth has appeared on such labels as Kill Rock Stars, Ecstatic Peace!, Rykodisc, and Young God. In November 2011, Fire Records in the UK will release Wooden Wand's latest record Briarwood, which was initially fan-funded through Kickstarter and recorded in Birmingham, AL in April 2011.
Discography
Cassettes
- Book of FM (Polyamory)
- Folk Audio Tapes Vol. 1 (WWVV #1)
- Live At Pasture reissue (Skullfucking Tapes)
- Michel's Portal and Crow Jane Variations (Fuckit Tapes)
- Split with Kasvien Ystavat (Polyamory)
CD-R
- Angel Hair (Chocolate Monk)
- Live At Pasture (tour only) (23 Productions)
- Supplication Jam for Brother Greh 3-inch CD-R (Chondritic Sound)
- Town on the Edge of Darkness (Audiobot)
- From The Road Vol. 1 - Born Free (23 Productions)
- From The Road Vol. 2 - The Philosophy of Fuck It (23 Productions)
- From The Road Vol. 3 - Dead Lecturing (23 Productions)
Albums
- Buck Dharma CD/2xLP (5RC / Time-Lag)
- L'un Marquer Contre La Moissonneuse CD (Three Lobed Recordings)
- Sunset Sleeves LP (Weird Forest)
- Xiao LP (DeStijl)
- Xiao CD/LP (Troubleman Unlimited)
- Gipsy Freedom CD/LP (5RC)
- The Flood CD/LP (Troubleman)
- James & The Quiet CD (Ecstatic Peace!/Universal)
- Waiting in Vain CD (Rykodisc)
- Born Bad LP (People in a Position to Know)
- Hard Knox CD (Ecstatic Peace!)
- Death Seat CD (Young God Records)
Compilations
- Satya Sai Baba Plays The Ring of Spells on the Heart Liver & Lungs compilation (???)
- Liberty on Animal Power Magic compilation (Nature Tape Limb)
Other & Related Releases
- A Cut Above featuring Wooden Wand & Satya Sai Baba Cemetery of Life CS (Polyamory)
- The Diehls Noise at the Diehls CD-R (WWVV #2)
- Ego Plummet No Shoes CD-R (virgin eye blood brothers + son of earth + wwvv) (Polyamory)
- Heidi Diehl Old Times / Year of the Stone VHS (Polyamory / WWVV #5)
- Heircraft Totem September 1–4, 2004 CS (Polyamory)
- Night Moves book (WWVV#6)
- The Jones Gang High Eye: Live in Nashville CDR (Polyamory)
- The Vanishing Voice Nordic Visions LP (Gipsy Phinx)
- The Vanishing Voice Jarvis Hall" CDR (VV)
- The Vanishing Voice Road Of Trials" CDR (VV)
- The Vanishing Voice Vellum one sided c50 CS (Meudiademorte)
- Time Life (Crane & Diehl] Doubled Blackberry CS (Meudiademorte)
- Time Life (Crane & Diehl] Gripstone CS (Night People)
- Vanishing (Crane & Diehl) s/t CS (WWVV #3)
- Voice (Crane & Taveniere) s/t CS(WWVV #4)
- Wooden Wand Harem of the Sundrum CS (Polyamory)
- Wooden Wand & Satya Sai Baba Moray Elk Themes 7" (Gold Soundz)
- Wooden Wand & Satya Sai Baba Crow’s Feet Modifier on Cottage Industrial, Vol.3 comp (Humbug)
- Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band Second Attention CD (Kill Rock Stars)
- Wooden Wand & Tovah D Day Bad News Bearers CS (Polyamory)
- Castanets/I Heart Lung 12" (Crane & Tavaniere w/Castanets) (Sounds Are Active)
- The Blood Group Everything Forgotten Gathers At The Ceiling (Le Grand Magistery)
- The Blood Group Volunteers (Le Grand Magistery)
External links