Wooden Wand - Farmer's Corner

Wooden Wand
Farmer’s Corner
6 May 2014
Fire

3.5 stars out of 5

 

James Jackson Toth has released over a dozen records under the name Wooden Wand, including his latest, Farmer’s Corner. Toth’s folk songs are here filtered through country, but his lyrics remain dark and twisting narratives, somewhere between Appalachian murder ballads and Bill Callahan. Musically, this is an incredibly conservative record, but Toth’s verses occupy a space that is both subversive and exciting.

Though unified by Toth’s deep voice and lyrical focus, the songs that comprise Farmer’s Corner are all over the Americana map (albeit country is the most visited territory). The ‘60s psychedelic folk of “Adie” sits comfortably near the straight ‘70s country of “Sinking Feelings.”

“When these memories are gone, they’ll be gone to stay,” Toth sings on the closing track, the lazy psychedelic country of “Gone to Stay.” While this may be true, Farmer’s Corner might still remain as an artifact, the physical remains of the impact those memories had on the creative output of one individual. Part On the Beach, part Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Farmer’s Corner is a sharp, caustic record, one that growls at the political while remaining firmly grounded in the personal.

reviewed by Richard Krueger