During a yearlong Harvard fellowship south of the border, David Wax, lead singer of The David Wax Museum, immersed himself in Mexican folk rhythms to form the band’s signature style of “Mexo-Americana.”
The group will play on the final day of Nelsonville Music Festival on the Main Stage and No-Fi Cabin among a number of other bands at the festival including Calexico and Los Hacheros incorporating Mexican influences into traditional American roots music.
While Wax brings the Mexican element, Suz Slezak was brought up on a farm in Virginia trained in classical music as well as Irish and American folk. When they met in 2007, the two styles just melded.
Slezak’s main instrument is the violin but she has also learned to play the donkey jawbone, a traditional Mexican instrument that is the actual jaw of a donkey. The teeth of the animal are still in the jaw, so when Slezak strikes the side they rattle. She also scrapes the teeth with a drumstick.
“David saw people playing (the donkey jawbone) in Mexico, so when we started the band we were looking for new instruments to add to the mix,” Slezak said. “Five years later I think I’m still one of only a few jawbone players not a part of a Mexican band.”
Wax also uses a Mexican guitar called a “jarana jarocha,” which Slezak said gives them their signature sound because of the rhythms and sound it produces.
For their newest album, Knock Knock Get Up, Slezak said they brought on a full drum kit and an electric bassist to bring more rock elements into their music.
“We are trying to incorporate the Mexican sounds in more subtle ways than we did on earlier albums,” Slezak said. “Now we blur those lines by using Mexican instruments with American rhythms or visa versa.”
Despite the shift to electric, the group members still specialize in acoustic performances such as the one they will be performing at the No-Fi Cabin, in which they dance, shout and holler back and forth to one another on stage.
However, this will not be the group’s first time in southern Ohio, as it has previously played at Stuart’s Opera House as an opener for Carolina Chocolate Drops.
“It was amazing when they were there,” said Brian Koscho, marketing manager for the festival. “We had a lot of people rushing to their merchandise table after the event … you don’t always see someone play the donkey jawbone.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
If You Go:
What: David Wax Museum at Nelsonville Music Festival
When: 12:15 and 3:00 Sunday
Where: No-Fi Cabin and Main Stage
Admission: $65 for a day pass $110 for weekend pass
