The band profiled in this bio should not be confused with a European duo that is also called
the Wayfaring Strangers; that acoustic twosome (which goes back to 1994) consists of British guitarist/singer Neil Grant and German mandolinist/singer Martin Ahrndt, whereas
the Wayfaring Strangers profiled in this bio (who are also acoustic-oriented) are an American collective led by violinist/pianist
Matt Glaser. The music of the American
Wayfaring Strangers is not easy to categorize. Their work can be loosely defined as progressive bluegrass, Americana, or roots music; some of it is relevant to the alternative country/No Depression scene. But however one chooses to categorize
Glaser and his colleagues, their material is certainly far-reaching;
the Wayfaring Strangers draw on everything from bluegrass, folk, and country-rock to jazz, world music, blues, and gospel (African-American gospel as well as white country gospel).
They have a lot of old-time influences -- including
Bill Monroe,
the Carter Family,
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, and
Bob Dylan's role model,
Woody Guthrie -- but
the Wayfaring Strangers are hardly a carbon copy of '30s or '40s music. They've been influenced by swing, Dixieland, and classic jazz, but they've also been influenced by modal post-bop jazz (which got started in the late '50s with
John Coltrane,
Miles Davis, and
Yusef Lateef). And the band's country influences range from pre-World War II country to modern country-rock (the earthier strains of alt-country/No Depression as opposed to the slicker, more processed recordings that country radio tends to favor in the 21st century). Put all of these influences together, and you have a band that is as unpredictable as it is eclectic.
Glaser's project got started in the early 2000s, when
the Wayfaring Strangers signed with Rounder. The participants have included
Tony Trischka (a well-respected banjo player), drummer/percussionist
Jamey Haddad, bassist
Jim Whitney, and mandolinist/guitarist
John McGann as well as three female lead singers:
Tracy Bonham, Ruth Ungar, and
Aoife O'Donovan. While Ungar has been a member of
the Mammals and
O'Donovan has been with the group Crooked Still,
Bonham has been recording as a solo artist since the '90s (when she had an alternative rock hit with 1996's biting "Mother Mother"). And some of the participants have been bona fide jazz musicians, including pianists
Bruce Barth (who has recorded some straight-ahead jazz albums for the MAXJAZZ label) and
Laszlo Gardony (a Hungarian immigrant who now lives in the northeastern United States). The Wayfaring Strangers' first album,
Shifting Sands of Time, came out on Rounder in 2001; it was followed by their sophomore effort,
This Train, which was recorded in 2002 and released by Rounder the following year. ~ Alex Henderson