Wye Oak, Cotton Jones

Two-man rock groups generally fall into one of two types of rock: blues and hard-rock. Then there is Maryland's Wye Oak, a duo that is far from the blazing guitar work of Jack White and Dan Auerbach. The band deftly blends elements of folk, country and indie-rock into a style unique to...

By Lance Lester

October 2, 2009

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Two-man rock groups generally fall into one of two types of rock: blues and hard-rock. Then there is Maryland's Wye Oak, a duo that is far from the blazing guitar work of Jack White and Dan Auerbach. The band deftly blends elements of folk, country and indie-rock into a style unique to the band. In a flash, Wye Oak can go from a song like "Warning" (from its 2008 debut If Children), which recycles the reverb and blaring guitar feedback of Jesus and Mary Chain, to folk and country songs like "Sight, Fight" (from its latest album, this year's The Knot), which rivals Appalachian traditionalists.

In spite of the fact the band has great songs that blend together different genres, it would almost be worth the price of admission just to witness drummer/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Stack do his thing; he sings, plays keyboards and drums almost to the extent of overworking.

Joining Wye Oak is fellow Maryland-based folk-pop outfit Cotton Jones.

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