Album Notes

"A uniquely tremendous album." - HearYa
"If one of Boston's hottest new bands, The David Wax Museum, gets any hotter, it just might melt." - Boston Globe

The David Wax Museum, a talented foursome based in Boston, fits in alongside other great New England folk acts with its heart-wrenching harmonies, poignant lyrics, and deep-rooted Americana sound. Yet, The David Wax Museum’s joyful injection of Mexican spice makes it stand out in this rich folk scene. The band pivots seamlessly between toe-tapping numbers and exuberant Mexo-Americana songs that quickly bring audiences to their feet with call-and-response
hollering, jarana strumming, and donkey jawbone rattling.

This Mexo-Americana creation draws on David Wax’s mid-Missouri upbringing and years of study in Mexico. The Mexican instruments, rhythms, and song structures he brought back with him led to natural blending of these two distinct musical traditions. The new album brings in the African rhythms of son jarocho, the corrido narrative tradition, banda horns, Duranguense bass lines, and the jumping cadences of son calentano.

Carpenter Bird, the band’s second album and the first with its Boston line-up, is a riveting collage of upbeat
Mexican-influenced tunes that have one foot firmly planted in the roots of American music. The album, mixed by Missouri music legend Lou Whitney (Wilco, Jonathan Richman, Blue Mountain, The Bottle Rockets), captures the band’s energy and unique Mexo-Americana sound. A stellar cast of guest musicians who have played with Josh Ritter, Eilen Jewell, Mandy Moore, and The People’s Republic of Klezmerica round out The David Wax Museum’s exciting new album.