Episode 14: David Wax Museum

  David Wax and his wife, Suz Slezak, form the core of the band David Wax Museum.  Their new album, Line of Light, features songs that are reflections on and reactions to events of the past few years: family life, the tragic events of 2017 in their hometown of Charlottesville, and in the country and world at large. While thematically consistent, the varied production of the cuts on the album (produced by Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket) make for a compelling, and ultimately, uplifting listen.  In the episode David also discusses how his time in Mexico studying the musical and related social/cultural traditions there continues to inform both his process and the band’s live performance; his early attempts at a mini rock-opera about brainwashing; and blindfolded concerts.

The roots of David Wax Museum stretch back over a decade, and all the way from New England to Mexico. As a student at Harvard, Wax began traveling south of the border to study and immerse himself in the country's traditional music and culture. Back in Boston, he met fiddler/singer Suz Slezak, whose love of traditional American and Irish folk music fused with Wax's Mexo-Americana into a singular, energetic blend that captivated audiences and critics alike (Bob Boilen of NPR Music hailed their live performance as "pure, irresistible joy"). Their 2010 breakout performance at the Newport Folk Festival made them the most talked-about band of the weekend, with NPR hailing them as "pure, irresistible joy."