Wild Blue Yonder - Reviews

Maryville Daily Times   2004-04-16

A little folk, a lot bluegrass: Wild Blue Yonder sounding better than ever

IF YOU GO

Wild Blue Yonder

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: The Palace Theater, 113 W. Broadway, downtown Maryville

HOW MUCH: $10 advance, $12 at the door

CALL: 983-3330

ON THE WEB: www.wildblueyonderband.com

By Steve Wildsmith

of The Daily Times Staff

If your only reason for attending Saturday night's Wild Blue Yonder show at The Palace Theater is to hear ``The Possum Song,'' then prepare yourself.

  Because there's so much more to the East Tennessee bluegrass band than that song, about an opossum's trials and tribulations set to the tune of ``The Lion Sleeps Tonight.'' Sure, it was the song that got the band noticed -- but Wild Blue Yonder has matured light years ahead of the tune that was picked up by WIVK-FM as a hokey gimmick.

``Of all of our new songs, there's nothing silly at all on this new CD [`Above and Beyond,' scheduled for release this spring; 100 copies will be available at Saturday's show],'' said guitarist and singer Melissa Wade. ``We hoped that `The Possum Song' would open a lot of doors for people to hear about Wild Blue Yonder, and now that they have, we hope they keep listening.

``I don't think we're pigeonholed, because that song is not all that we are. If you listen to the new CD, you'll certainly hear that that's the case.''

Wild Blue Yonder evolved from the musical leanings of guitarists Wade and Phil Coward, who's an assistant store manager at Target here in Maryville. The two played in a rock `n' roll band several years ago, but getting back to roots music put them closer to the music they love.

  The band's influences run the gamut, from Bill Monroe to Newgrass Revival, and the group is known on the local circuit for playing a more progressive, folk-oriented type of bluegrass, similar to that of Alison Krauss and the band Seldom Scene. Much of that can be credited to Wade's lyrics, which lean toward the Steve Earle, John Prine and Guy Clark school of songwriting.

  But it was a song about the opossum, the tragic critter seen, more often than not, splattered on Southern roadsides, that gained the band local notoriety. Wade's fear of opossums led to the development of ``The Possum Crawls Tonight,'' played to the tune of the 1950s R&B classic ``The Lion Sleeps Tonight.'' The song caught on with both fans and the media. It's gained airplay on WGAP-FM, WDVX-FM and even on WIVK-FM. Despite the rest of the group's folk-meets-newgrass repertoire, ``Possum'' remains one of Wild Blue Yonder's most-demanded songs.

  But there's so much more to the band. If anything, Wild Blue Yonder sounds like one of the finest bluegrass bands to come out of East Tennessee in quite some time. The members blend traditional bluegrass with the more contemporary roots-folk-Appalachian sounds that temper the music of Nickel Creek and Alison Krauss and Union Station. Speaking of Krauss, Wade's vocals sound eerily similar on the new album, but Wade's alto pitch grants the lyrics a resonance and depth that even Krauss doesn't quite have.

  If that sounds like blasphemy to the bluegrass faithful, then you need to hear Wild Blue Yonder live. Only a live show will convey the band's range -- from the traditional ``Orange Blossom Special'' to the smoking-hot version of Julie Miller's ``All My Tears.'' It's taken several years to perfect, and it's an evolution that's still in progress.

``It's a little more progressive-sounding and edgy than the traditional style of bluegrass,'' Wade said. ``Our new CD is very much about that. Seven of the tunes are originals, and one even has some percussion on it. Not drums, but just a taste of percussion. And we're excited about it, because we hope it has a younger, more eclectic style to the album.

``As for what it sounds like, I'm afraid to call it anything. We've used the word folk a little bit in the past, and people are like, `Don't say that word,' like it's a dirty word. But I like folk, a lot of it, and it influences my sound. I'm not ashamed of it, and I'm not going to shy away from it, so there are some elements of that on the new disc.

``The main thing for us is that people don't seem to know what to call our sound, and I take that as a good thing,'' she added. ``That means it's original.''

But original doesn't always fit into the notion of what purists consider true bluegrass. And while Wild Blue Yonder has won over dozens of new fans, the band has earned a few detractors as well.

``To be perfectly honest, we haven't been overly well-received with the real hardcore, traditional bluegrass audience,'' she said. ``No one has kicked us off stage or been negative, but I feel like those people aren't quite as open to our new style as people who might listen to someone like Robinella [of Robinella and the CCstringband]. But that might be my own personal insecurities.

``I don't mean to say we've not been accepted by anyone, and besides, Bill Monroe didn't have a lot of nice things to say about Alison Krauss. It's all in your perception, and we've got to go where our hearts lead us. Personally, I'm going to be happy playing music, whatever I do.''

All rights reserved.  Wild Blue Yonder.  Copyright 2004