2018-19 Guide To Yellow Springs

34 the Guide to YelLow Springs y 2018 - 1 9 Y e l l ow S p r i n g s N ews By Megan Bachman Listening to local band Wheels — the poetry of their lyrics, the crispness of their music and sweetness of their har- monies — the listener may not believe that this group of teenagers have played their instruments for just a few years. Now the quintessential homegrown four-piece band, delivering jaunty folk music with bluegrass roots, but with pop harmonies (think Bill Monroe meets the Beatles) has a full-length album to its name and a growing reputation — all in a little over a year. With their debut album, "Fields on Fire," Wheels hopes to take its act to the next level — to play more shows, write more songs and get recognized by national acts, including their musical heroes and principal influence, the Avett Brothers. Not too bad for Yellow Springs teens Sam Salazar and Sam Crawford, both 14, and Rory Papania and Jamie Scott, both 16, who began as a street act busking for spare change. “Wheels is a serious treasure of Yellow Springs,” said Tim Berger of Exceptional Sounds, sound engineer and co-producer of "Fields on Fire." “What a brilliant col- laboration of four people,” and not just From left, local teens Sam Crawford, Rory Papania, Jamie Scott and Sam Salazar were Wheels, a homegrown band with pop and bluegrass sensibilities. The band was active in the early 2010s. From the A chives : May 26, 2011—  y  Wheels ' homegrown sound y • Submitted Photo by Savanah Amos for their age, he added. In their live shows, Wheels adds a dynamism to traditionals like “I’ll Fly Away” and “Angel Band” and covers of John Prine, Gillian Welch and The Band while impressing with daring originals about lost love, friends in trouble and childhood. “People said we were Americana or folk, which we didn’t like,” Salazar said. So the group takes folk and bluegrass tunes and “wheels them up,” adding their sweet harmonies and a funky groove to make it danceable. What became Wheels was seeded in the summer of 2009 when Salazar and Papania — having just returned from Friends Music Camp, where they met — started picking a ukulele and guitar together in front of Tom’s Market. They would lay down a black Bob Dylan songbook in front of them and jam for six-hour stretches. A few months later, Scott, wanting to get in on the fun, picked up a harmonica and joined in. The threesome’s light, cheery sound and beautiful three-part harmonies went from precious to powerful when Scott began mixing in hand drums and upright bassist Crawford was added to the lineup at the end of last year. The album features eight original songs by Salazar, Papania and Scott, all singers and songwriters who take turns as the lead vocalist. Salazar’s vocals have a rock edge, Scott’s a sweet tenor and Papania’s a soulful depth. Together, they blend beautifully. “I thought some of their harmonies were as stellar as Crosby, Stills and Nash,” Berger said. Papania is the band’s principal guitarist and most experienced musician, having played the guitar for just over three years, while Salazar chimes in with bouncy flourishes on the mandolin and ukulele, instruments he’s played for just a year and a half. “Sam is just a genius, a child prodigy,” Papania said. To his bandmates, Salazar is the Bob Dylan of the group — a poet and natural performer. Scott is the band’s Frank Sinatra, with a jazzy vocal style and passion to spare, while Papania’s style resembles fellow guitarist George Har- rison and Sam Crawford is the “Theloni- ous Monk of the stand-up bass,” band members said. Preferring an acoustic and live sound, Wheels recorded "Fields on Fire" with live takes, not separate tracks, and didn’t wear headphones. “Playing live, there is so much more energy and a much more intimate con- nection between us,” Salazar said. Wheels quickly graduated from street corners to open mic nights at Peach’s and Brother Bear’s to paid gigs at area bars and concert venues and eventually to fes- tivals around the state and region. They even played at a 600-person show at the historic Newport Music Hall in Columbus last New Year’s Eve as the opening act for Ekoostik Hookah. The future looks bright for Wheels, who hope to keep “rolling on,” as their band name implies. To Berger, Wheels’ music seems inspired by nature and by the town of Yellow Springs. It’s fitting that the band thanks the entire community in the album’s liner notes. “The sound comes from the community of Yellow Springs that they grew up in and are a part of,” he said. Wheels released their second album, "Big Feeling," in 2012 followed by their final album, which was self-titled, in 2013, after which they disbanded. 1 More information 767-9490 or www.tecumsehlandtrust.org Protecting local farmland, water, and natural areas forever. O nly 3% of the earth’s surface is ideally suited for food production — prime soils and plentiful, safe water. Over half the land right here in the Miami Valley fits that description! T he Tecumseh Land Trust is ready to preserve those special lands that make Ohio our home. 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