Singer-songwriter James Toth has announced his first album as Wooden Wand in three years. It’s called Clipper Ship, and it’s out May 5 on Three Lobed. It’s available for pre-order on all formats through Three Lobed and Bandcamp.
A host of great performers are set to appear on the new record, including Darin Gray (Jim O’Rourke), Glenn Kotche (Wilco), and Ryan Norris (Lambchop), among many others. Meanwhile, the label’s website has also gone so far as to indicate that longtime Wooden Wand fans may find that Clipper Ship feels somewhat unfamiliar:
In a world of guitar players, James “Wooden Wand” Toth remains first and foremost a songwriter and lyricist. Clipper Ship, however, presents a sort of break in that tradition: in attempting to emancipate himself from old habits, Toth wrote most of the songs on Clipper Ship “music first,” adding lyrics later, a reversal of the tried and true method that has made him one of the most prolific and respected songwriters of his generation. The result is the most democratically-conceived, multi-layered, and musically sophisticated album in the extensive wooden wand discography.
And speaking of “the result,” Clipper Ship’s first track, “Mexican Coke,” also premiered recently via NPR. But to hell with NPR, right? Listen to it for yourself (and catch a glimpse of the Clipper Ship tracklisting) right here:
Clipper Ship tracklisting:
01. School’s Out
02. Sacrificial
03. Mexican Coke
04. Mallow T’ward the River
05. One Can Only Love
06. Clipper Ship
07. Mood Indica (Reprise)
More about: Wooden Wand
