The Untitled Interview #153 – Hopscotch Edition: Starring James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand)

If there’s one thing I love, it’s going to a new festival for the first time. And this weekend yours truly shall be heading down to Raleigh for some serious festival goodness in the form of Hopscotch. With a varied, all sorts of awesome lineup, I have no doubt this weekend will be a hot diggity dog dandy. I tracked down some of the most interesting out-of-town prospects playing Hopscotch this year to get their collective take on the joy of fests.

I do so love me a good dose of music that’s so lonesome it could make me cry. Wooden Wand, the latest project of wandering troubadour type James Jackson Toth, definitely fits that bill. Full of heartbroken drives down dusty, lonely roads and wistful glances towards the past, Toth tugs at the ole heartstrings something fierce. The man himself kindly answered some festival queries, which you yourself can read in just a minute. They read even better if you happen to be listening to some Wooden Wand at the same time.

Fuzzy Logic: How are you getting to Hopscotch: plane, train, or automobile?
James Jackson Toth: The band and I are driving a van from Birmingham. We organized a few shows on the way and the way home, so it's sort of turned into a mini tour.

FL: Inevitably, you will forget to pack:
JJT: More than the one pair of jeans I'm wearing, and my phone charger.

FL: How many shows will you be playing?
JJT: At Hopscotch I am performing three times. Once in a duo with my good friend William Tyler for the Three Lobed showcase, once at a panel on Narrative Songwriting I've been asked to participate in, and once with my band, Wooden Wand & The Briarwood Virgins, at The Berkley Cafe. All in the same day, and all on my 33rd birthday. Can't really think of a better way to spend it.

FL: Band you're most looking forward to seeing at the festival?
JJT: It'll be my 19th time seeing the Drive By Truckers. So, them. But also, Guided By Voices, Liturgy and The Body.

FL: What's the first thing you plan on doing upon arrival in Raleigh?
JJT: We get there a day early so we'll probably nap and take it easy.

FL: What was the first festival you ever attended, either as a musician or member of the general public?
JJT: I honestly can't remember. I'm generally not big on festivals. I don't have the endurance. But I think I'd pay to go to this one. The lineup is killer.

FL: Favorite thing about festivals?
JJT: Seeing other bands, making friends, and staying drunk. And the abstract expressionism of a porta-john at midnight. Groovy.

mp3: Tiny Confessions (Wooden Wand from Death Seat) (thanks a bunch, Raven Sings The Blues!)