Photo credit: Jay Blakesberg

The Waybacks Come Fully Loaded

When the Waybacks first started making the festival rounds, they appeared at places like Merlefest and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

They were pigeonholed into the bluegrass genre because they used acoustic instruments of that particular musical style: mandolin, fiddle, and acoustic guitar.
“We started out as a local San Fransisco band without much thought of what we were going to do, where we were going,” says James Nash, front man for the band.

That was back in 2001 and the band has not stopped touring since. Those first few gigs, like those for Railroad Earth, drew a lot of startled breaths from traditional bluegrass players and fans when The Waybacks set up a full trap drum set on stage first thing.

Chuck Hamilton, the Waybacks’ drummer, said at Merfest in 2002, “There have been some festivals that have been concerned about the drums. Frankly, there have been a few festivals we probably could have played without drums, and they didn’t want us with drums. To me, that’s not what it’s all about. We’re a band, and we have a sound. You either like us or you don’t.”

Hamilton, who is originally from Montana but lives now in Seattle, had had an active career in the music business before he joined the Waybacks in 2001.

He’s played in sacred orchestras in Norwegian cathedrals, with the Montana blues/rock band Lucky Fingers, with the country/rock Lost Highway Band that toured the upper Midwest and the Rockies, and with Seattle jazz notables Jim Day, Clipper Anderson, and Count Basie’s favorite bassist Buddy Catlett. He’s also played with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and even Lawrence Welk.

“I was playing the show in Medora back in the 70s,” Hamilton recalled. “I played the show for 72 nights straight, and I had one night off. On the Fourth of July weekend, Lawrence Welk came by for the weekend. We did three of his shows. I was in the pit band, which was drums, piano, and organ.”

Nash, who is originally from Nashville, has been playing guitar since he was nine and later taught himself how to play mandolin. He handles acoustic and electric guitars and shares writing tasks and lead vocal duties with Warren Hood, the fiddle and mandolin player. Joe Kyle, Jr plays upright and electric bass. All of the band members do backup vocals.
Though the Waybacks are extremely skilled instrumentalists, they are known for their sometimes quirky, but more often thoughtful, lyrics.

Hood came aboard almost four years ago and helped Nash shoulder the burden of songwriting.

“We didn’t necessarily expect that he was going to be writing half of the songs when we first started working with Warren. The fact that he is now has really changed the dynamic of the band in a great way,” Nash said recently.
“We’ve focused on songwriting quite a bit more than we have in the past. Our live shows still have plenty of the instrumental fireworks…We’ve got some song vehicles for it that we’re really excited about. We feel in some ways we’re really offering just more than we have in the past. We’re still having the jam, improvisational element to the band, but we think we’ve got a little more depth in writing area.”

This past year, The Waybacks toured with Bob Weir. “Doing those shows with Bob was amazing,” Nash said. “Also, I had the pleasure a couple of months ago of getting to see Bob and Phil and Mickey all play together. That was for an Obama rally.”

This summer, The Waybacks are making a very special effort to bring their eclectic music to this year’s 10,000 Lakes Festival. “We had the whole trip planned,” Nash explained, “and we got the 10KLF offer and we really wanted to do it so we just squeezed it in….We’re flying from 10KLF to the Northeast to finish up our trip.. We’re going through some work to get there because we hear it’s such a cool festival, and we’re psyched to get to come.”

Check them out and listen for “Black Cat.” It’s a new gypsy-inspired instrumental in the same vein as their crowd favorite, “Turkish Stalemate,” which has become a special event song that only gets dusted off once in a while.

The Waybacks: The Barn Stage, 10KLF; Fri., July 25, 2 p.m.