The Wilders

Country music, guys ‘n’ gals, is alive and well and living in Kansas City, Missouri. While such a revelation might not come as an complete surprise, what might prove a little more confounding is that, when delivered by four-piece The Wilders, the “hillbilly hurricane,” as they are affectionately known, whirls into the Spiegeltent without so much of a syllable of crooning, wailing, or yodelling. Instead, with energy and panache The Wilders provide a thorough dressing down to the idea that Country and Western is music for hicks and bums.

Without doubt, the Wilders are the “country and hillbilly kinda fix” they unabashedly claim to be. Featuring Ike Sheldon on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Betse Ellis on fiddle, Nate Gawron on double bass and Phil Wade on dobro, banjo and mandolin, the ensemble could hardly look or feel more like a country outfit. Referring to their style as “new time; old time,” The Wilders have mined their Appalachian tradition for the best bits and added to it a stubborn refusal to curate a stultified, historical form. This is living, breathing music. A rendition of George Jones’s ‘Too Much Water Has Gone Under the Bridge’ has Wade perform a rock-star leap while picking a mandolin. I’ve not seen that one before.

The set is less successful when bandleader Ike Sheldon turns to the piano for a laid back Howard Iceberg number. While Sheldon’s versatile voice is undoubtedly more than a match for the ballad, the sentimental celtic-roots schmultz really isn’t what this band is about. In the absence of the energetic percussiveness of the mandolin or banjo, or the solid plonk of the bass, there’s little to pull this above forgettable radio-happy fare. That’s not to say the group are only successful when steamrollering through old Flatt & Scruggs tunes. A slow blues lead by Ellis on fiddle sears like hot iron, welding screaming blue notes to jazz chops and proving exactly why these stopovers from the deep South can offer a uniquely American music which more international leaning acts can’t quite pin down.

“Hold onto your seats, folks. If you don’t put your seatbelts on, that’s your risk.” A wise warning indeed from Ellis, but one which comes with inherent difficulties. Foot-stomping is all very well, but it’s a little hard to clap hands and slap thighs while clutching a chair. And that, really, is not an option.