David Wax Museum

Contemporary folk, Americana

David Wax Museum pulls together influences of Mexican folk music with contemporary American roots music to make a sound which is very distinctly their own. Still, fans of bands like Rodrigo y Gabriela and the Carolina Chocolate Drops may really enjoy the work of David Wax Museum, as would fans of the singer-songwriter genre and artists like Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Paul Simon, Langhorne Slim, and others.

David Wax - Vocals, guitar
Suz Slezak - Vocals, fiddle, donkey jaw bone

David Wax Museum also occasionally tours with assorted percussionists and other players, though the core of the group is built around the collaboration between Wax and Slezak.

Everything Is Saved (2011) purchase/download

Carpenter Bird (2009) purchase/download

I Turned Off Thinking About (2008) purchase/download

"Yes Maria, Yes" (from Everything Is Saved)
"Beatrice" (from Carpenter Bird)
"Chuchumbe" (from Everything Is Saved)

Born and raised in Missouri, David Wax began college at Deep Springs College in rural California - a higher education school which is part college, part cattle ranch. During his time off at Deep Springs, Wax traveled to Mexico, where he worked with the American Friends Service Committee in rural areas. According to his official bio on his website, he eventually enrolled at Harvard University to complete his undergraduate work, before returning to Mexico on a year-long fellowship. During this fellowship, he engaged in an intense study of the local rural folk music. His website says, "It was there that he first began blending Midwestern folk with the instruments, rhythms, lyrical themes and song structures of son mexicano."

Wax's collaborator, Suz Slezak, grew up in Virginia playing and studying various folk music traditions, from local Appalachian folk to Irish music and classical traditions. She attended Wellesley College and eventually moved to Boston, Mass., where she met Wax. A long-time fiddler, Slezak found herself convinced by Wax to take up playing the donkey jaw bone. She joined his band as a backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist and the two have been a solid duo (with the help of additional instrumentalists who come and go) ever since.

In 2010, the Boston Music Awards named the David Wax Museum Americana Artist of the Year for the area - a feat, considering Boston's rich and vibrant Americana music scene. No doubt, the community fueled by Berklee and the greater New England songwriting scene has produced a fertile well of artists through the years, and the David Wax Museum is no exception.

On the road, they've toured with roots music heavyweights like the Old 97s and Avett Brothers. They've also shared festival stages and club dates with the likes of Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles, Ben Kweller, the Low Anthem, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and more. Their rousing performance at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival garnered the band a considerable amount of attention and buzz, as has their appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert and, more recently, a slot at Nashville's Station Inn during the 2011 Americana Music Association Conference and Festival.

As of the writing of this particular bio, David Wax Museum has released three studio albums since first forming in 2007. Their 2011 release Everything Is Saved (produced by Sam Kassirer, who has also worked with Josh Ritter, Joy Kills Sorrow, Erin McKeown, Langhorne Slim, and others) has made the heaviest impact, though, garnering the attention of the blogosphere and higher profile Americana music press and publications as variant as TIME magazine, Daytrotter, Paste, No Depression, and the New Yorker.