Fresh Pickles, Chris Castino’s upcoming release with Chicken Wire Empire, is less a departure from his career with the jam band The Big Wu than a return to his earlier influences. Castino admits that when he started writing songs, he was new to bluegrass. He credits his heightened interest to Rounder Records’Twenty-Five Years of Bluegrasss, particularly music by J.D. Crowe and Tony Rice.
“I was just blown away,” he said. “Those guys were so influential to me because my concept of bluegrass before I knew much about it — I hate to say this — was probably ‘The Ballad of Jed Clampett,’ and that’s not fair because there’s so much beauty and history to the music and the tradition.” That record led him to other music, such as Hazel Dickens, the Bluegrass Cardinals, and Joe Val. In the early days, he was especially drawn to the Newgrass sound from the 70s and 80s—Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Crowe—and to Alison Krauss and Union Station, who took the music in a different direction.
By the time he started writing for The Big Wu, he was really into bluegrass music and felt that influence in some of his early songs.
“Some of them have a bluegrass feel, but the ones that are a little funkier, in some sense, are the same tempo as a bluegrass song. If you change the tempo, beat, or feel, it would be a bluegrass song. With ‘Kangaroo,’ ‘Red Sky,’ and ‘Bloodhound,’ which I wrote pretty early on, there’s no obstacle to turning those into bluegrass songs,” said Castino.
When the pandemic put the brakes on live music, an opportunity presented itself. Since Minnesota shut down early, Castino faced a huge challenge. His school-aged children were home for the entirety of 2020. He had plans to write but, he said, “It turned out writing was the one thing I didn’t have the time or energy for.”
The band played some livestream shows, and he made time to pick up his guitar and play, but found that he didn’t have the focus and dedication of time he needed for his writing.
“I had to be flexible with my writing because sometimes it’ll be ready to come out and I have to be ready to go with it. Sometimes I have to urge it through. But I have to do it on a regular bases and to be ready when the river’s flowing,” said Castino. He decided it was time to take advantage of the opportunity: No one was working, studios were available, so he reached out to the members of Chicken Wire Empire (CWE), a Minnesota bluegrass band who had played shows with The Big Wu and found they were eager to have the opportunity to be productive.
Chris had known two of the members, Ryan Ogburn and Jordan Kroeger, since they were teenagers. He put a large list of songs together and ran them by the members of CWE, who helped him select which tunes would work and which would not. He said he trusted them and ended up with eleven songs for the project.
“Choosing the songs on the disk is a lot like writing a set list,” said Castino. “l play a lot of live shows, and I often am tasked with writing set list. A lot of it has to do with changing it up: weaving slower material into the set list and changing the keys of songs so your ear doesn’t get used to the tonality of a certain key of music, so you’re undulating. You’re going down the road and seeing different things as you listen to the record or the set of music. I’ve always enjoyed writing set lists and crafting the songs for an experience like that.”
Not surprisingly, the album opens with “Kangaroo,” one of the band’s best known, most upbeat songs, followed by “Red Sky,” the first single release, with Sam Bush on fiddles. The selections come from across the decades of the band’s career. “Bound for the South,” featuring Tim O’Brien and Nick Forster, is a song Castino calls a tip of the hat to Alison Krauss and Union Station.
About the narrative lyrics that seem to come from personal experience, Castino said, “I think everything is really true and also not true. It’s wonderful to have a way to filter things through lyrics. Perhaps people that write novels are drawing on literal experiences. but lyrics seem to me—for the most part—to be filtered through a process where the things you feel and the people you know are seen [as if through] an old sheet of glass…. It’s a blurriness which-—and this is important to me—-allows people to interpret the lyrics in a way they want to interpret them and leaves things open in a way so that their mind fills in the gaps.You have to put a few specifics in there and set it up. I think that’s what I’ve learned from the masters-to leave it open and let people fill in with their minds.”
Asked why he chose to create this album with Chicken Wire Empire instead of retooling The Big Wu, Castino said, “There’ve been many retoolings. I think I’m out-retooled. [The members of The Big Wu] are my brothers. I have known those guys and played music with them since I was 19, and we have a bond,” but he says he is not interested in feeling regret. “It feels so fulfilling and energizing to be working with new people. When you try something new, there’s a little bit of fear, and it’s all part of the excitement. It’s been very rewarding.”
As a founding member of The Big Wu, Castino continues to work for the band, and they still get together to perform, but he says this new venture feels great. He said the guys in Chicken Wire have been supportive. He added, “They trust me, so they’re along for the ride. I’ve empty my coffers, and it can be nerve wracking, but I love the experience of holding the steering wheel on something because I think I can do it, and it’s really fun.”
They aren’t the only ones along for the ride. The guest performers on Fresh Pickles reads like a Who’s Who in Bluegrass—including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, and Peter Rowan.
Castino said, “It’s amazing. I can’t explain it. I’m very fortuitous. My interaction with the bluegrass world comes twice removed.” He knew the members of Yonder Mountain String Band and Leftover Salmon and other “jam grass guys.” Sam Bush had played one of their New Year’s Eve shows in the early 2000s when the band was at the peak of popularity, but that was the only time the two had spoken or their paths had crossed. He also reached out to Peter Rowan who had played a festival with The Big Wu about five years ago.
Castino had not met Tim O’Brien but admitted that O’Brien had been a major influence since the beginning of his interest in bluegrass. He said he had tried to emulate everything O’Brien did—his songwriting, his singing style, even his mandolin playing. He knew Keller Williams, another jam band guy, and Adam Greuel, who co-produced the album. He had met Nick Forster through Jeff Austin of Yonder Mountain.
Castino also knew Jerry Douglas through a friend. “Jerry is such a joy. such a great guy. He showed me such kindness,” he said. He added that the whole experience was positive–and it could not have happened with their regular touring schedules. “The Covid effect allowed all these things to take place.”
Castino realizes this project will open him up to a new fan base, people who will know his music only through bluegrass. He is also interested in the response of the band’s loyal fan base, even though their reach has been limited beyond Minnesota.
He said the reaction has been great so far, with the release of “Red Sky,” the first single off the album. They decided the release would be exclusive through Relix, the leading magazine for Deadheads and jam bands for decades.
“To me, that song has the most jam band in it because of these different orchestrated parts, and it has a longer format. I want fans of The Big Wu to be on board, so I thought it would be good to share it first with those fans. They were curious because they understood something was happening and they were keeping tabs.
“I think the next song we release will probably be in more of a bluegrass format, and it may debut through a bluegrass mag whose readership will appreciate the bluegrass elements. We’re trying to pick tunes carefully.”
Considering whether one can judge a book—or an album—by the cover, Castino said he wanted the impression to be “bright and irreverent.” He added, “I thought Fresh Pickles was certainly not taking it too seriously. The little joke is that the songs had been pickled over many years, but they now are fresh because of this new approach.”
After working with new people on the project, he turned to Beth Vanderwalker, his wife’s business partner and the wife of The Big Wu’s drummer” for the art. She has designed every album cover for The Big Wu, as well as many of their posters. “I wanted her to help navigate into the next phase.”
Looking toward a February 4 street release, the band plans a January 28 show in Minneapolis a few days prior. Castino said that having released his first solo album March 18, 2020, the week the world virtually shut down, he knows to expected the unexpected. He is hopeful that by spring and summer, they will be able to tour with the new music, looking forward to some bluegrass festivals with new listeners as well as the loyal jam band fans.
