Tag Archives: Wayward Vine

Album Review: Wayward Vine – The Fall

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photo by Diana Levine Photography; photo courtesy of Knyvet

Album Review of Wayward Vine: The Fall

Wayward Vine‘s music covers a fair amount of musical real estate near the intersection of Americana, folk, and pop. In some eras, it would be considered radio-friendly. Today, it may be more accurate to describe it as festival crowd-friendly, in that the band’s music is likely to appeal to fans of a relatively broad swath of bands at a multi-genre festival. Wayward Vine’s songs have pleasant melodies and harmonies, appealing vocals, and detailed songwriting. Add to that a recording effort that paid serious attention to the details to obtain a crisp, clean sound without losing the songs’ energy or the artist’s vibrance, and you have The Fall, a record that’s an enjoyable, easy listen, whether alone or with a group of music fans whose tastes diverge a bit.

image courtesy of Knyvet

Wayward Vine is led by primary songwriters and co-vocalists Valerie Rachel (vocals, violin, keys, Hammond, tambourine) and Greg Lawrence (vocals, guitar, percussion, harmonica), joined by Yoni Gordon (electric guitar), Jose Downes (bass), and Jim St. Pierre (drums and percussion).

Wayward Vine kicks off The Fall with the album’s title track. “The Fall” is a soft piano-driven number that paints a picture, but of course, when you have a violin on board and a variety of talented instrumentalists, the sound is rich and variety. Just driven by the piano.

Therein, by the way, lies the difficulty in describing Wayward Vine’s music. It’s song-driven. Certainly, they fit just fine in the Americana setting in which I first heard them. The musical style could also be richly instrumented folk music – meaning what folk musicians music sounds like when they’re not averse to rich instrumentation in a studio.

photo by Diana Levine Photography; photo courtesy of Knyvet

Then there are songs like second track “Hannah,” particularly the opening, which is really more pop with a hint of rock before settling into a fully instrumented, well-produced singer-songwriter song vibe (with rich background vocals). In the end, multi-influence-driven categorization attempts aside, Wayward Vine simply sounds like Wayward Vine, and that’s what all bands really strive for, isn’t it?

Next up, the niftily smooth “Narcissist’s Disguise” is a pleasantly listenable storytelling tune with a moderately sneaky guitar hook and a classic soft-rock fadeout. It’s followed by single-worthy swayer “Dancing on Your Basement Floor,” the first song on the disc that leans more on Greg’s voice than Valerie’s – and not solely but as a lead with plenty of harmonizing. It’s the first time on the record that you really notice how well the pair’s voices blend together in harmony. Indeed, Valerie’s voice is core to Wayward Vine’s distinctive sound, and is what you’d want leading most songs, but having a second capable lead choice and a top-notch harmony option is another cool weapon in Wayward Vine’s arsenal. Plus, specifically on this track, it allows space for Valerie’s voice to extend the “floooooor” vocal to particularly good effect. It’s those little nuances that elevate a song like “Dancing on Your Basement Floor.”

The tempo picks up and the band delivers a jangly, guitar-driven mostly-pop song with “Implode,” with Valerie’s voice, particularly on the lines “so arrest me!” and “na na na na” ideally suited to the light, cheerful vibe.

“Just Like That” offers up a folky country music vibe and includes one of my favorite rhymes on the record: “It’s funny how life can bite you on the ass. I guess this too shall pass.” It’s not nearly the most insightful lyric in the song, as the song tries to answer the question it poses twice (“Why does it always feel like you’re only alive when you’re dying inside?”), but it’s the one that makes me chuckle.

The band doubles down on the country music vibe with the heavily-rhythmed floor-thumper “Hard Way.” Next is a journey to a fiddle-driven, mountain country (or barndance) musical place next with “History.” And then comes “End of May,” a very folky, singer-songwritery storyteller, picture-painter of a song.

Penultimate track “Turn Yourself Around” opens with notable harmonicawork before revealing its somewhat haunting musical edge and a tunefully ominous vocal strain. And the record closes with “Imperfect Beings,” a pleasantly pop-folky, piano-supported number that closes with a long, slightly psychedelic rock ‘n roll musical outro, providing The Fall with a fittingly genre-blending close.

Looking Ahead

Wayward Vine has several upcoming July and August Massachusetts performances, per this Facebook post. With the band’s ability to appeal to fans of multiple genres, they’re well-suited to their next half-dozen venues, an even split of farmers markets and beer garden/brewery events in Hyde Park, Roslindale, Canton, Jamaica Plain, and Natick.

Live Review: New England Americana Festival 2025

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New England Americana Festival (closing number); photo by Geoff Wilbur

New England Americana Festival

Bellforge Arts Center

Medfield, MA

June 29, 2025

I arrived at the Bellforge Arts Center when the eighth band was on-stage, just past the halfway point of the fourteen-artist docket for this year’s New England Americana Festival. With two stages side by side, the festival kept things moving with barely a moment of dead air.

Though I didn’t catch their sets, the first seven acts of the day obviously contributed to the lively atmosphere I saw as I arrived, as the joyousness was in full swing by the event’s midpoint. Those first seven performers, worth mentioning in acknowledgement of their contributions to the day, were Sam Reid & the Riot Act, Comanchero, FauxMenco, Jimmy Ryan’s Wooden Leg, Zion Rodman, Molly Pinto Madigan, and Sunfisher.

Damian & the Displayers; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Damian & the Displayers

Damian & the Displayers were the band on-stage when I arrived, stirring the crowd with an energetic brand of Americana. Of course, by the time I got settled in and started taking notes, the festival had moved on to the next act.

Elisa Smith; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Elisa Smith
Start with song-driven Americana, add a fiddle and the accordant bit of country (not bluegrass) flavor, and you have the central core of Elisa Smith’s musical style, at least during this performance. A couple notable songs from the set were the catchy “Daddy Hates These Red Boots” and “Nashville Won’t Forget Me,” which has a very ’70s countryish flavor. I also noted that Elisa’s music hints sonically at Patsy Cline, in spots. Such variety, from more modernly raucous genre-bending (at least as much as is possible in duo form of acoustic guitar and violin) to Opry-worthy classic country, this Elisa Smith set hints at an artist with the talents and variety of skills to keep things interesting. I look forward to exploring her recordings.

Nate Perry & Ragged Company; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Nate Perry & Ragged Company

The modern, explosive, rockin’ country sound of Nate Perry & Ragged Company caused a bit of excitement to ripple through the crowd as they took the stage. Or, rather, as they started to play. To be fair, as a full, electric band following a couple of acoustic duos, the stage was set for an energy uplift. However, this band delivered such a tight, powerful set that, even without the primed runway, it would have taken the crowd’s energy airborne.

The band performed most of the songs from The Otherside of Everything, the exceptional EP I reviewed a couple months ago. In addition, there was an energetic, heartfelt performance of “Between the Lines,” plus the band’s most recent two post-EP singles, “Count on You” and “Tonight.” Notably, the band closed its set with “Preacher,” one of the tracks from the EP, a bluesy song that comes across with a bit of a classic rock jam-band blues rocker live, ending the band’s performance with an electric wail befitting an arena show.

Wayward Vine; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Wayward Vine

Wayward Vine was up next. The band delivered a great set of more laid-back and folkier, song-driven Americana, supporting its performance with a rich full-band sound. Notable was album-opener, “Dancing on Your Basement Floor.” I also noted “The Fall” had a more distinctive piano flavor than the previous songs, giving it its own unique, sort-of-’80s-ish, tuneful soft rock vibe. And “History” stood out for what I initially noted as a “devil violin part,” though it was, in fact, probably more dark and ominous. Still, even if not entirely demonic, quite cool. The rest of the songs had their own unique angles, as the song seemed to move much faster than possible during the allotted time-slot. “Narcissist’s Disguise,” “Implode,” and “Hannah” were the remaining songs performed. No disrespect, as I recall “Hannah” in particular brought the set to a nifty close; but I don’t have any notes beyond the song titles, so check ’em out for yourselves.

Other Brother Darryl; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Other Brother Darryl

First of all, if you’re too young to recognize the reference in this band’s name, find a couple episodes of Newhart to watch and get back to me. With that out of the way, Other Brother Darryl is a band whose music is, largely, very Americana with a twang. An especially popular local act – winners of the Country Artist of the Year category at the Boston Music Awards in 2024 – this band brought the goods at this year’s festival. You might also describe the band’s sound as old-school Americana with gravelly vocals. My final note from OBD’s set was about the band’s third song, a jangly tune with somewhat psychedelic organ-work and a jam-bandish vibe, extending a truly groovy feeling to the early evening.

Dirt Road Souls; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Dirt Road Souls

Next up were Dirt Road Souls, a rockin’ Americana three-piece. The first stand-up bass I caught during my portion of the festival, which is mostly notable just to point out that, while the entire festival was Americana music, different instrumentation with the bands’ line-ups in addition to the artists’ varying influences afforded the event plenty of musical variety. This, of course, would be an example of different instrumentation.

I took notes about a few of the interesting songs during the band’s set. “Bright light white heat” thumps along like a dive bar hillbilly rock twanger. The band’s uptempo cover of Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River” did a good job of keeping things moving. And “Roar” was an energetically twangy, very cool crowd pleaser.

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners closed the festival with their own uniquely original, raucous style of Americana, as I noted in my review of the band’s Before the Fall EP a few weeks ago. The band opened its set with big-time energy with the song “Gypsy Moon.” “Don’t Let Perfect” followed, with a little more finesse and a beat that kind of chunks along. Next up was the more intensely fun “Living By the Second Hand,” followed by “Ballad of Springfield, Massachusetts (Pictures on Her Cellphone),” introduced by Kier simply as “Pictures,” with a very raucous alt/college rock energy appended to an otherwise very country/Americana rocker. “Trains off the Rails,” from the Before the Fall EP, well… you just had to know this one would play well live with its very almost polka/oompah rhythm propelling a song that just accelerates. “Quarter Life Crisis” followed, with its blues soul and raucous college rock energy (You know, I’m not sure how I failed to note the blues vibe in my review of the recording a few weeks ago.) Finally, the band closed its set with its most insanely original tune, “White Russian,” churning through its cool, original energy, from the accordion style, the guitar tempo, and the wild, increasingly out of control (seemingly, at least) vocal delivery, and then, of course the Russian folk energy that makes you want to kick-dance. It was a crowd-pleasing end to the final band’s set.

Of course, the evening wasn’t quite over. Kier and band invited the day’s other performers to join them on the stage for a great, rockalong/singalong rendition of “The Weight,” a not-uncommon song for situations like this, bringing the day’s festivities to a fun close.

This year’s New England Americana Festival was a fun, well-attended event at a great outdoor venue. Here’s hoping this year’s successful event leads to another similarly fun gathering for the region’s Americana community next year, too.