LIVE: The Wiyos @ The Linda, 1/16/10

Looking like a group of 1930s hobos that just jumped off a freight train passing through Albany, the Wiyos climbed up on The Linda‘s stage complete with an arsenal of instruments that included guitars, a tuba, a megaphone, kazoos, and even a washboard.

The evening’s performance bounced around flawlessly from vaudevillian vamps, country blues, classic ’60s folk-rock, Appalachian string band, early ’20s & ’30s dance-band jazz, urban house party music, western swing, contemporary pop and any other American musical idiom imaginable.

On the bandstand, guitarist singer-songwriter Parrish Ellis, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Michael Farkas and pedal steel guitarist Teddy Weber performed songs taken from their first release “Porcupine” to their fourth 2009’s “Broken Land Bell.”

That night the Wiyos effortlessly dazzled the full-house audience with their musical virtuosity and stellar vocal deliveries – even through a megaphone. It’s no wonder that they were included in a recent BBC Documentary “Folk America” and that they were invited to be the opening act on Bob Dylan’s 2009 national tour.

Photographs and review by Andrzej Pilarczyk. Click here to see more of Andrzej’s photos from this show.