Ahead of their debut album, Southern Intentions, Wood Willow have released this taste of things to come and what a wonderful musical morsel it is too. Carved from chiming mandolins and booming beats, “So Much Runnin’” is a taste of old-time folk music reimagined for the modern era, simple, straight to the point and all the better for it. It is a reminder that such a sound is not the sound of the past but the most recent chapter in an ongoing musical story, that folk music is as relevant today, as viable a system of communication as it has ever been. Perhaps more so, given the connectivity of the modern world.
The video also reminds us that the more things change the more they stay the same, a visual narrative of the hobo life, again brought bang up to date.
And that is the art of making authentic music I guess. If you borrow too much from the past you end up merely plagiarising and repeating what has gone before. Travel too far into uncharted musical waters and it is often hard to find an audience for such unfamiliar creations. But pitch it just right, the perfect blend of familiar and the fresh, a poised position just far enough out from the heart of the listener’s comfort zones, that sweet spot between what has gone before and what will be and the audience will beat a path to your creative door. And if you want to know how you go about achieving all of those things, best you give “So Much Runnin’” another spin!
