Denver trio Wovenhand is coming to town. Honestly, if everyone was familiar with Wovenhand, or even 16 Horsepower, this article would already be in the archives, consisting of that first sentence only. However, the very fact that Wovenhand is playing a small venue like Mississippi Studios leads me to believe that this is not the case. That said, allow me to reiterate: Wovenhand is coming to town. And it’s going to be the best show you’ll see in a long time.
It’s awfully hard to talk about Wovenhand without bringing up their jaw-droppingly fantastic album, 2008’s “Ten Stones.” Though they have eight albums, “Ten Stones” stands out the most. Why? It’s perfect.
Before you decide to either go to this show or pick up a copy of “Ten Stones,” ask yourself this: How many perfect albums have you ever heard? Well, when you pick up “Ten Stones,” you can add one more.
The album begins with a slow dirge that eventually gives way to a churning semi-rhythmic buildup. Frontman David Eugene Edwards’ trademark trembling vibrato cascades over the choppy percussion. Impossibly huge cymbal crashes wash over the listener in what becomes the album’s pace-setter. The excitement softens for a bit, eventually coming to a standstill with the mesmerizing track “Iron Feather.” It isn’t until track six, “White Knuckle Grip,” that you realize you don’t just want to see this show—you need to. A perfect crescendo, the foot-stomping beat serves as a wondrous backdrop for all kinds of instruments integrated with ample amounts of guitar feedback—all while Edwards leads the listener on a tour of his soul.
Edwards began his musical journey in yet another band that went largely unnoticed—16 Horsepower. The band’s genre spectrum is almost wide enough for three bands—they’ve been called a mixture of folk, country, rock, gothic what-have-you, Americana—the list goes on and on. However, when 16 Horsepower broke up in 2005 after a long hiatus over “creative and spiritual differences,” Wovenhand had already recorded four full-length albums.
After finally leaving 16 Horsepower, Edwards—who many saw as their centerpiece—took his full creative mind to Wovenhand and the results were devastating. 2006’s “Mosaic” was met with awe by critics, and for good reason; the album is almost as good as “Ten Stones,” which is the culmination of this focused early work that started with “Mosaic.” With no more “differences” to bog down Edwards’ creative mind, Wovenhand has released four albums since 2006, including two in 2006 itself; the previously mentioned “Mosaic” and the decidedly more abstract “Puur.”
This brings us to present-day Wovenhand performances. David Eugene Edwards has been given the gift of undeniably gripping charisma. Wovenhand shows go for as long as Edwards wants them to go, and when he’s done with you, he sets you free. Essentially spilling his innards out on stage for the entire crowd to see, Edwards strains, cries, hollers and croons his way through his band’s large back catalogue. Never in the last 30 years has there been another performer who can keep an entire crowd so enthralled from a chair onstage.
A Wovenhand live show isn’t something that you attend and let fall by the wayside days later. The memories do not fade with the ringing of your ears—and trust me, your ears, they will ring. A Wovenhand show is the kind of experience that you tell people about until they tell you they don’t want to hear that story anymore. Everyone has that one uncle who talks about the time they saw Led Zeppelin back in 1976. With this Wovenhand show, you’re entitled to talk about it, and everyone will be entitled to listen, whether they know it or not.?