WOODEN WAND Issue #32

James and the Quiet

By Anne C. Johnson
Published: June 1st, 2007 | 12:00am

James Jackson Toth of Wooden Wand wanted to make “an un-weird record,” a departure from the psychedelic folk that has come to be linked with his rather large body of work. For James and the Quiet, he intended to do what Elvis Costello did with Imperial Bedroom and Leonard Cohen with I’m Your Man and create something other than what was usually expected from him. With the assistance of Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo (who produced and co-arranged, sang, and played piano and guitar), Toth set out to give the people what they did not even know they wanted from him.

From a makeshift pulpit, Toth spins fantastically told tales of spiritual disillusionment and looking for truth in unlikely places. The setting is intimate but hardly touchy feely with wickedly clever lyrics (“Sometimes getting dressed is the most important meal of the day”) fleshing out the bleak setting he has created. An outlaw country vibe comes by way of Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, and Toth’s vocals often evoke Bob Dylan. Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley is also on hand, along with Jarvis Taveniere, DM Seidel, Jeremy Earl, with the terrific vocal harmonies contributed by Jessica Toth (“Spitting at the Camera” and the excellent “Delia”).

James and the Quiet may be Toth’s last recording as Wooden Wand, but hopefully not the last we hear from him. His future dreams may haunt him, but we should look forward to whatever comes next from this “piano stool fool.”