Fridays After Five - Wild Common

FRIDAYS AFTER FIVE | BUD LIGHT CONCERT SERIES

Wild Common - New Appalachian Fusion

Wild Common is a genre-defying “New Appalachian” band out of Charlottesville, Virginia. The whole is more than the constituent parts, but the constituent parts help understand the whole: Frontwoman Davina Jackson is a soul and gospel singer with a killer voice at the center of the band’s music. She used to sing back-up with the Wailers. Fiddle player Nate Leath won the famous Galax Fiddler’s Convention when he was 11 and has since grown into one of the most talented fiddlers of this generation. Drummer Rob Hubbard grew up in rural Virginia and went on to become an accomplished reggae drummer. Bassist Dhara Goradia has a long jazz pedigree. Keyboardist Bryan Holmes honed his unparalleled stylings in the hard streets of Raleigh, North Carolina. And songwriter and guitarist Brennan Gilmore has roots in old-time and bluegrass but has played fusion music across the globe. Last but not least, Davina's son Atreyu Jackson picks up the mic to rap with the band.  

In the late summer of 2017, all of these musicians from diverse musical backgrounds holed up at a farmhouse outside of Charlottesville to hash out some tunes. And immediately it clicked. They weren’t trying to force different genres on top or beside each other but were just taking songs at their essence – a melody and harmonization – and constructing them by playing as their individual traditions and backgrounds formed us to do. The result is refreshingly new, but also strangely familiar.