Wooden Wand is the stage name of singer-songwriter James Jackson Toth, who has recorded under his given name as well as the name WAND. 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

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Chara ...

freak folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Charac ...

and

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

. Though he was a significant player in the

New Weird America New Weird America is a 21st century style of music that primarily draws on psychedelic and folk music of the 1960s and 1970s. Etymology The term was coined by David Keenan in the issue 234 (August 2003) of ''The Wire'', following the Brattlebo ...

trend of the early to mid-2000s along with Devendra Banhart,

Akron/Family Akron/Family were an American folk-influenced experimental rock band active from 2002 to 2013. Former members have lived in Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; and Joshua Tree, California. Music and history Though each member of the band� ...

Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisc ...

, and collaborators The Vanishing Voice, Toth has been difficult to pigeonhole in one genre; recent releases have been identified as acid folk,

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

, outlaw country, and country-tinged rock. Toth has appeared on labels including

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

Ecstatic Peace! Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 in music, 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonf ...

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

, and Young God. Wooden Wand's collaborations have been nearly as wandering and nomadic as Toth himself, a New York native who attended

Purchase College Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

before relocating to

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

, and most recently

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. He has recorded with the Vanishing Voice (including ex-wife Jessica Bowen and other bandmates Jarvis Taniere and G. Lucas Crane, who went on to form ( Jex Thoth) and ( Woods), respectively, and Heidi Diehl), the Sky High Band, the Omen Bones Band, and the Briarwood Virgins (a

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

supergroup featuring members of the Through the Sparks, Plate Six, Delicate Cutters, and Verbena). In January 2013, Fire Records in the UK released Wooden Wand's latest record ''Blood Oaths of the New Blues'', which was the second album recorded with the Briarwood Virgins band in Birmingham in February 2012. Swans frontman and head of Young God Records Michael Gira stated, James Jackson Toth's “got that picaresque quality that Dylan had in his heyday, wherein the shambolic narrator undergoes various travails and epiphanies — harrowing, bleak and darkly comical — in the course of a narrative, then leaves you mystified, both smiling and sad.”

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) *''Ogre 99: Live In Fort Collins'' (Was Ist Das?)

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/2×LP (5RC / Time-Lag) *''L'un Marquer Contre La Moissonneuse'' CD (

Three Lobed Recordings 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

) *''Sunset Sleeves'' LP (Weird Forest) *''Xiao'' LP (DeStijl) *''Xiao'' CD/LP (Troubleman Unlimited) *''Gipsy Freedom'' CD/LP (5RC) *''My week beats your year'' The Great Pop Supplement LP *''The Flood'' CD/LP (Troubleman) *''James & The Quiet'' CD/LP (

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

) *''Waiting in Vain'' CD (

) *''Born Bad'' LP ( People in a Position to Know) *''Hard Knox'' CD (

) *''Death Seat'' CD/LP (

Young God Records Young God Records is an independent record label formed by Michael Gira in 1990 that specializes in experimental, avant-garde and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band Swans called '' Young God ...

) *''Briarwood'' CD/LP (

Fire Records Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the la ...

) *'' Blood Oaths of the New Blues'' CD/LP (

) *''Farmer's Corner'' CD/LP (

) *''Clipper Ship'' (May 2017) *''Some Archives 1995-2010'' (February 2020)

Compilation albums

*Satya Sai Baba Plays The Ring of Spells on the ''Heart Liver & Lungs'' compilation (???) *''Liberty on Animal Power Magic'' compilation (Nature Tape Limb)

Other and 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 A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

(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-inch (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-inch (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) *Wooden Wand / Owen Tromans "Circle / Guru Femmes" split 7-inch (Critical Heights) *Wooden Wand and the Omen Bones Band ''Horus of the Horizon'' 10-inch (Great Pop Supplement, gps24)

References

External links

Myspace site

Wooden Wand Guest List at Discollective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wooden Wand Psychedelic folk musicians State University of New York at Purchase alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fire Records artists Misra Records artists