Wed 5/6 @ 8:30PM
Rural Virginia’s Steel Wheels probably should have given a little more thought to choosing their name. They are NOT a Rolling Stones tribute band, but rather a country/folk band rooted in old-time rural mountain traditions that creates its own unpretentious version of Americana.
The group’s four members — lead singer/guitarist/banjo player Trent Wagler, standup bass player Brian Dickel, fiddler Eric Brubaker and mandolin player Jay Lapp — met in college in the mid ’00s and worked on projects together for a few years before dropping music for a few years to live normal lives. But they came together with a bang, releasing 2010’s Red Wing which gained them the attention of the Americana/alt-country community. 2012’s Lay Down, Lay Low cemented their reputation and their new album Leave Some Things Behind is likely to win them still more fans, with Wagler’s bright, potent vocals giving bite to the band’s acoustic music.
The band is going for some big things on the new album.
“We had more songs for this record than ever before and that caused us to ask, ‘How does all this stuff fit together, and what’s it about?’” says Wagler. “A theme emerged, which I’d been somewhat conscious of as I was writing—the Exodus theme. I was fascinated by the notion of going away from home to look for something. But the further we go toward something, the further we’re inevitably going away from something else, meaning those ideals come at a cost, sometimes small and mundane, sometimes huge.”
The album will surely provide material for those who like to dig deeply into song lyrics, but the band’s music is easy to listen to with strains of classic sounds that will be familiar to all listeners.
They’ll be performing at the Music Box Supper Club, with northeast Ohio’s Rebekah Jean opening.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door.
musicboxcle.com/the-steel-wheels/
Cleveland, OH 44113