Today, The Wood Brothers premiere their new video, “Little Bit Sweet,” off their new studio album, ‘Kingdom In My Mind’ on American Songwriter.
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Made up of two brothers, Oliver and Chris Wood, and later added, Jano Rix, this trio marries eclectic backgrounds to bring novelty to folk-Americana music, which we recently discussed with them. Oliver brings the spirit of the Blues and chorales from his Gospel past. Chris’s Jazz and R&B background reverberate through his guitar circles. Jano’s captivation with the Wood Brothers’ first record in 2006 brought him to his first performance with the group as a trio at Carnegie Hall. This show solidified his fit in the now three-part harmony. Jano ties familial folk influence from father, Luther Rix, who played with the likes of Bob Dylan, in with his dedication to the craft of both drums and jazz piano.
The music video for “Little Bit Sweet” is directed by Austin-based Gary Dorsey. It unfolds with dream-like familiarity. Vintage vignettes tell a whimsical love story for each member of the audience. The footage plays on nostalgia to reach each member in a way that provokes an emotional response.
“Lyrically ‘Little Bit Sweet” speaks to the yins and yangs of love—every kind of love,” remarked Oliver. “How its fragility and fleetingness match the value and preciousness of love. By no means a new topic, but the images in the lyrics are from personal experiences, and the connected feelings should feel pretty universal.”
Like most music productions, the Wood Brothers typically write a large batch of songs and then deliberately capture them all at once in the studio. The construction of ‘Kingdom In My Mind’ departed from that trajectory, and the trio began recording this record without even realizing it.
“The music for the song came from an improvisation we recorded on the first day we tried out our new studio in Nashville,” shared Chris. “The vibe and feel of that initial recording had a magic spark, and it ultimately wound up evolving into ‘Little Bit Sweet.’”
At the time, the trio thought they were breaking in their new Nashville recording studio. From room to room, the band laid down a series of extended instrumental jam sessions with engineer Brook Sutton as a way to learn the lay of the land, picking up on the sonic implications of each space.
The result of this experimentation was The Wood Brothers’ seventh studio release, ‘Kingdom in My Mind,’ an avant-garde album, their most innovative recording project yet.
“Everyone has these little kingdoms in their minds,” said Chris, “and the songs on this album all explore the ways we find peace in them. They look at how we deal with our dreams and our regrets and our fears and our loves. They look at the stories we tell ourselves and the ways we balance the darkness and the light.”
The band is currently on a North American tour, which already includes sold-out shows at Webster Hall in NYC, The Ryman in Nashville, and The Mod Theatre in Toronto, among others.
The Wood Brothers will donate a portion of ticket sales to Thistle Farms. This non-profit organization, based down the street from their studio, works to help women who have been victims of sex trafficking or prostitution or addiction to get off the road and into safe housing where they can participate in therapy and job training. “The work they were doing was so inspiring, and it felt like such a fit with the kind of album we were writing,” Oliver shared. “It’s our way of using what we’ve got to do whatever good we can in the world.”
Watch the exclusive premiere of The Wood Brothers’ music video for “Little Bit Sweet” below.
