The Tumbling Wheels

On the cover of this CD, which shows the five undressed band members crammed into a backyard pool, the Tumbling Wheels look like a bunch of out-of-time hippies. They sound like one too, and that’s a compliment: If you’re going to play old-fashioned string-band music, the last thing you want to do is sound contrived or ironic. Slightly tongue-in-cheek is fine, though, and part of this album’s appeal is its overall good-naturedness.

A bigger part is the songwriting; as the Wheels (who named the CD after a previous band incarnation) are good at writing new songs that sound old. The haunting tunes “Don’t Forget Me” and “Sleepwalking” are keepers, and “Tumblin’ Wheels” is a classic-model wanderlust song. “Oh Shit!” is their drinking/hangover song and probably a rouser live; but on disc you can catch clever lyric lines like “the dawn cracks its yolk over me” and “I’m gonna crunch those numbers like a bag of kettle corn.” “Rotten Town,” which opens the disc with some folkish a cappella harmonies, is a nice local variation on the Ewan MacColl/Pogues favorite “Dirty Old Town.”

There’s nothing fancy in their instrumentation—on most tracks, acoustic bass is the lead instrument—and there are occasional echoes of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (we would in fact love to hear this band cover “How Can I Miss You When You Don’t Go Away”). Much of the spotlight rightly goes to Rachel Wolf, an open-hearted singer who, on “You Never Showed Me How,” manages to get some poignancy out of a lyric about crawfish. - Offbeat Magazine (Brett Milano)

First of all, the lead vocal is picture perfect. Then the backing “oohhs” are just as delightful, filling out a timeless track that is sure to get some toes tapping. This is the purest sort of Americana bliss. It’s a multigenerational feel that will put you in mind of the 1950s most easily. The electric guitar dances beautifully around the rhythm guitar and rhythm section. When the lyrics crossover the 50s censorship (you’ll hear it, trust me), you’re suddenly jarred into this visceral time warp. It’s modern and it’s old fashioned all at once. - Ear to the Ground

Sobre la música country no sé mucho, probablemente porque nunca me ha gustado. Desde que me mudé a Nueva Orleans, mi perspectiva sobre ella ha cambiado. He descubierto toda una cultura y diferentes géneros dentro de este género que son más amables a mi oído. Y eso me pasó con The Tumbling Wheels. No sólo son country… unen folk, americana, un poco de jazz y mucha pasión y originalidad en su música. Al mismo tiempo logran encajar todos estos sonidos del pasado en la actualidad.

La primera vez que los vi me quedé paralizada. La voz de Rachel alcanza unos rangos que no sé de donde salen ya que físicamente ella es súper chiquita. Tenían a todo el salón bailando en menos de un minuto y cada canción era una nueva sorpresa. No he dejado de escucharlos desde entonces.

Pero ¿de dónde vienen sus integrantes?

Hace unos años Rachel y Jeffrey se conocieron en Nueva York y se volvieron buenos amigos al descubrir que compartían un gusto similar por la música. Comenzaron a escribir canciones y decidieron mudarse a Nuevo Orleans para buscar más suerte con su proyecto.

Su aventura neorleaniana los llevó a conocer a Joanna (baterista), James (bajista) y Sam (guitarrista principal). De ahí, su historia es una de suerte. Sin nunca haber tocado frente un público, una galería de arte local –United Bakery Gallery- les dio la oportunidad de hacerlo. “Tuvimos mucha suerte. Teníamos una relación con los dueños, no muy cercana, pero suficientemente buena para ir a apoyar la apertura del lugar. Les preguntamos si podríamos tocar ahí alguna vez y sin escuchar nuestra música ni conocernos tan bien nos dieron el sí. Tuvieron fe en nosotros. Así fue como empezó todo. Fue una noche increíble: había mucha gente, se emocionaron. Recuerdo este sentimiento de estar en el cielo y estar disfrutando cada minuto. Fue algo mágico”.


Poco sabían los dueños de la galería que su acto de fe les abriría muchas más puertas no solo a los Tumbling Wheels, sino a ellos, ya que tres años después decidieron fundar una disquera y grabar el primer disco de estos chicos: The Tumbling Wheels Play The No Counts.

Su música es simple, pero al mismo tiempo las armonías y los juegos con las voces y ritmos que crean son únicas. Sus letras son contagiosas y sumamente divertidas, cómo es el caso de On Account Of Me, que tiene una melodía sencilla y cuenta la historia de un amor que se está acabando cuando él se da cuenta que ya no le hornean pan por ser un poco descuidado con ella. En You Never Showed Me Rachel canta sobre sus aprendizajes en la cocina y la música a lujo de detalle gracias a alguien que le rompió el corazón.


Casi todas las canciones están compuestas por Jeffrey y Rachel, pero dentro de este disco hay una canción compuesta por Joanna que genera lágrimas en quien la escucha. Ella me dice: “Jeffrey y Rachel son muy buenos contando historias y añaden humor, lo cual no es un talento que yo he desarrollado”. Our Blood’s The Same “es muy seria e intensa” es como la describe Joanna. Y sí, lo es. Dentro de un disco lleno de felicidad e ingenuidad, a veces hace falta esa canción que nos devaste un poquito.


Todos tienen una historial musical peculiar. Rachel se dio cuenta del poder de su voz desde niña: “Siempre me gustó cantar. Probé varios estilos hasta que me invitaron a cantar en una banda de jazz y me di cuenta que mi voz funcionaba muy bien con ese estilo. Empecé a escuchar más soul, jazz y música con voces poderosas. Fue cuando comencé a trabajar con Jeffrey (vocales y guitarra), que empecé a cantar country”.

Joanna empezó tocando tambores en un grupo de samba “realmente no sabía tocar la batería. Esa experiencia me hizo adquirir confianza para empezar este proyecto como su baterista y ha tenido buenos resultados”.

Sam, por otro lado, tiene una formación musical más profesional. Tiene educación clásica y pertenece al coro de Nuevo Orleans. Al igual que James, que no estudió música, comenzó a tocar el bajo desde chiquito “no me gustaba, mis papás me obligaron a hacerlo, pero hoy en día me doy cuenta de las grandes ventajas. Yo también llegué a esta banda por accidente. No tenía nada que hacer y únicamente quería matar el tiempo”.

Pues matar el tiempo ha tenido buenos resultados para todos. Su música es original. Tienen la pasión y el talento. El cual se escucha y se ve cada vez que tocan.

Como toda aventura, el resultado puede ser bueno o malo. Para The Tumbling Wheels ha sido más de lo que ellos se hubieran imaginado. Su primer disco ya se puede escuchar en todos los medios que conocemos y acaban de dar su primer gira por el noroeste estadounidense. No queda más que seguirla compartiendo con el resto del mundo. Por que nadie merece perderse de sonidos que solo contagian buen humor y alegría. - Liliana Ruiz-Healy for The Ruiz-Healy Times

The Tumbling Wheels formed in New Orleans about eighteen months ago out of a love for classic country sounds including clear melodies, lush vocal harmonies, and good storytelling.

They have an album, The Tumbling Wheels Play The No Counts, due out this September through United Bakery Records and have shared a couple of tracks from it.

With echoes of the Milk Carton Kids, Patsy Cline and Bessie Smith they blend genres together for a sound that abounds in rich vocal harmony, dynamic instrumentation, and colourful tales .

Lovely stuff - The Mad Mackerel

9/4/16 - "This might be the shortest album review ever because, well, it’s not REALLY an album. It’s just a two song release on Bandcamp. However, the rules is the rules (as they say) and the Tumbling Wheels won episode four of the New Music Friday contest, so it’s only fair that we cover the album. Also, they’re really freaking good, so you need to know about them for future work that they might put out. Consider following them on Bandcamp so that you can keep up with their burgeoning careers.

The sweet harmonies of “Rotten Town” contrast beautifully with the song’s message about loathing your hometown. The sultry gang pose (seemingly?) nude, bathing together in their album art. That kind of whimsical chemistry comes through in their harmonies. They sound like a troupe who have been singing together for many years and only now decided to share this gift with the rest of us. There are some comparisons to be made here, but they’re actually smoother than those names like Peter, Paul, and Mary or the Mamas and the Papas, but that harmonic hippy vibe is spot on with these talented artists.

“Don’t Forget Me” is the tune that won the Tumbling Wheels this feature. The lead vocal is so stunning that the rest of the song just falls into place. There’s an alto lead that seems to hearken days of yore back to the 1920s. As the song progresses, there are shades of 50s diners and definitely some scathing lyrics more befitting the 90s grunge era. It all blends together for a deeply satisfying and sometimes unsettling, downtempo adventure.

This is a band to watch. These types of harmonies don’t come along every day. They also have a performance magnetism that reminds me of Lake Street Dive. If you enjoy these two jams, keep an ear out for the rest of their promising career." - Ear to the Ground

Sometimes with music you just get lucky. I found about Lucero when someone left me an anonymous mix CD. Aaron Lee Tasjan was the opener for a show I won free tickets to. Everyone has stories like these, beautiful serendipity that affects your listening for the foreseeable future. This band, The Tumbling Wheels, moved in next door to me. I first heard them play at a party they kindly invited me to, and I was blown away. Fire up the opening song and you’ll see why. This little five piece of musicians based in New Orleans has caught and bottled the lightning that pop folk has been chasing for a decade now. Called The Tumbling Wheels Play The No Counts (after an old name for the band), this album is like a breath of fresh air: twelve tracks that will drag your emotions all over the place and keep your feet tapping at the same time.

Right from the beginning, “Rotten Town” grabs you. The strong harmony, the unique blend of the voices, how quickly it shifts into gear with a chugging rhythm section and cheery lead guitar line. It’s fun to listen to- you’ll find yourself singing along before you know it.

The band lists several inspirations that I confess I don’t know well enough: Bessie Smith, Hoyt Axton, the Smothers Brothers. Several of the songs headed by guitar player Jeffrey Sutton, “Eloise” in particular, remind me of Jimmie Rogers (the pop singer, not the yodeler) tunes. Whether those names mean anything to you or not, you’ll find that there’s a sense of familiarity with the music that the band comes to without imitation.

Lead singer Rachel Wolf’s voice is a study in contradictions. In “Gin House Prodigy” she shows off her range by easily switching between bluesy flourishes and wild, crass wailing. These songs harken back to blues songs that were rife with double entendre and seamy backdrops. But there’s sincerity here as well: the straightforward sentiment of “Stick With Me” and “Tumbling Wheels” will get your heart caught in your throat before the riotous barn-burning of “Oh Shit!”.

The high, clear tones of drummer Joanna Tomassoni provide as many colorful flourishes as her drum set does; the pure notes she sings in the background of “Rotten Town” still give me chills. The song she leads, “Our Blood’s the Same”, is both the quietest and sweetest number on the record. Trading her drums for a guitar, Tomassini weaves a personal tale of how the trials and tribulations of our upbringings can affect our relationships long after we’ve grown up.

James Stram holds down the low end on his upright bass, and guitarist Sam Ottinger merrily weaves his way around the flashiness of the singers. These songs are fun as hell to listen to, and you get the impression from Play The No Counts that they’re fun as hell to play. As Charles Hale would say, move your furniture out of the living room. Put this record on: it’s time to dance. Buy the record on their bandcamp.

As a special treat, check out their bandcamp for a live recording of one of my favorite songs not on the record. “True Fight” is a loving duet between two young women relieved to find someone that they can really and truly beat the hell out of. This was recorded as The Tumbling Wheels opened for much-beloved artists Joey and Kelly Kneiser (of Glossary), and it was a beautiful show in a buddy’s back yard. Give it a listen.

-Gabriel Di Chiara - Ajax Diner Book Club