The growing attraction of David Wax Museum
Folk-rockers exhibit a vibrant sound that's winning fans, acclaim
When David Wax and Suz Slezak began to seriously invest full-time energy into the promotion of their band the David Wax Museum, Slezak says they set up informational meetings with “as many people who would accept coffee as we could.’’ What came from those business managers, label people, radio and press folks, and other artists was a common refrain: “Keep doing what you’re doing.’’
What they’re doing is making a name for the David Wax Museum — playing a vibrant blend of rock, Americana, and Mexican folk music — the old-fashioned way, one gig at a time. From house concerts where they passed the hat to shows anywhere that would have them to an ecstatic, profile-rising appearance at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival, Wax and Slezak have been working hard, giving more than 200 performances last year. “We toured our butts off,’’ says Slezak with a chuckle.
As they prepare to celebrate the release of their second album, “Everything Is Saved,’’ with a show at Oberon on Thursday, it’s clear that all the hard work is paying off as more visitors have been coming to enjoy a night at the Museum of late and praising its musical exhibits, including a recent win at the Boston Music Awards for Americana Artist of the Year.
“It doesn’t feel like some magical thing. We just play every night. And if you keep playing every night for 20 people or 30 people or 50 people and then they tell five people, it spreads,’’ says Slezak, actually sounding a bit incredulous that in fact the process works, almost magically. “And you get better,’’ added Wax. “Our performances have gotten so much more compelling.’’
Indeed, the DWM is one of those classic you-need-to-see-them-live bands. As Wax wails away at his jarana — a guitar-shaped Mexican instrument — and sings his ebullient melodies, Slezak slaps and whacks her quijada — a percussion instrument made of a donkey’s jawbone — and provides hand-in-glove harmonies. (Both the jarana and the quijada were common instruments in the area of southern Veracruz, where Wax traveled on a fellowship after graduating from Harvard. But Wax says he never saw a woman playing the quijada at the fandangos he attended. Of shattering the apparent donkey jawbone glass ceiling, Slezak says with a laugh, “I went to Wellesley after all.’’)
“When we started singing together, then it was that instant, ‘Oh yeah!’ ’’ says Slezak snapping her fingers for emphasis. A network of musician friends the pair has cultivated across the country, including those in Slezak’s and Wax’s respective home states of Virginia and Missouri, sit in to help fill out the sound. “It’s folk music at its essence,’’ says Wax, of the group’s ability to expand and contract its sound from two to 20 players.
It was one of those lively performances that convinced producer Sam Kassirer to sign on to help the duo refine their vision. “I heard the [first] record [“Carpenter Bird’’] and I thought it sounds nice and they seem like nice people so I thought I should go to a show. And when I did, it was really a completely different ballgame,’’ says Kassirer, who has produced records for folks like Erin McKeown and for Josh Ritter, who happens to be the boss at his day job — a keyboardist. “They’re always out in the audience, getting people to sing and dance and clap and jump around. It was sort of inspiring for the direction of the record.’’
Indeed, Kassirer’s input on “Everything Is Saved’’ was key, says Wax, in helping “make the album sound like it all took place in the same night.’’
The trio manages to make disparate elements — the zippy, spare indie rocker “Born With a Broken Heart,’’ the tremulous Ryan Adams-esque alt-country ballad “Look What You’ve Done to Me,’’ the jubilant Mexican-inflected “Yes, Maria, Yes’’ — do just that.
“We didn’t want it necessarily to sound like an old field recording or something,’’ says Wax, a big fan of Adams who also looked to Paul Simon and Tom Waits as aural touchstones. “We’re a contemporary band, we listen to contemporary music and I think having the electric guitar be a thread through some of that helped bring it to present day. I think the vocal sound that Sam got is a thread. I think the accordion and piano is a different thread.’’
What’s next? Touring, of course.
Following the CD release show, next week the band hits the road again, including a stop at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March. They’re considering the idea of signing with a label to re-release “Everything Is Saved,’’ but, says Wax, “If we’re going to work with someone it has to be: ‘What are they bringing to the table that we don’t have or can’t do on our own?’ ’’
Having financed the album themselves and making a living for the past few years as a self-contained unit, the David Wax Museum’s members are probably just going to take the advice they’ve heard so often and keep doing what they’re doing.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. 
