The Santa Cruz mountain good folk, Wolf Jett, are having a release party for their third studio album, titled Letting Go, on March 28th, at the Felton Music Hall.
The eponymous single “Letting Go,” is a transcendent gem. The wizards of Wolf Jett, take the listener on a sonic expedition full of beatific harmonies. The 7 1/2 minute track is a down-and-dirty song about seeking redemption, but it’s uplifting and wouldn’t be out of place in a hip church. Don’t miss the crunchy organ solos at the conclusion; this makes for an ultra fine listening experience that you’ll want on repeat.
The extended Wolf Jett family, includes the extraordinarily talented Jason Crosby (Phil Lesh & Friends, Jackson Brown). “Letting Go” hits that sweet spot of sound that emerged between the 1960s and 1970s. It invokes that perfect vibe you want when you’re driving in a hot car on a Sunday afternoon.
Produced and recorded in Oakland by Jonathan Kirchner (Con Brio), Letting Go, is a the culmination of a four-year collaboration with Kirchner. Whatever alchemical magic occurred within the soundproof walls of the recording studio, Wolf Jett has emerged like a prehistoric direwolf. One hundred percent adaptive and able to survive all environments.
2024’s release Time Will Finally Come, was a powerful collection of songs, establishing the band’s versatile dexterity, craftsman-quality built songs, and a unique, but familiar, sound that is rough, sweet, and cosmic. Letting Go, is the bands calling card to the world.
Let’s wax hyperbolic. Wolf Jett is a fully formed dynamic band whose music reminisces of 1960’s congregates like Delaney and Bonnie, who also enlisted the widest circle of talented friends to bring their songs to life. Wolf Jett isn’t fucking around. They’re ready.
Considering the arduous journey of the band, Letting Go is a beyond-the-pale achievement of endurance and talent. From his home in Boulder Creek, singer-songwriter Jon Payne talks about some of the more recent changes in Wolf Jett’s line-up.
“We had a couple of member shifts this year,” Payne begins. “We welcomed Allyson (Makuch, on vocals) and Rory (Cloud, on guitar). They’re also a couple and they do their own music together. And they joined our band kind of in lieu of Laura (T. Lewis on vocals) and Will (Fourt on guitar). Laura just had her second baby. So she’s deep in motherhood and just couldn’t commit to touring right now because she wants to raise her child. And Will and his wife adopted a child. And so parenthood kind of took two of our longer term members and we’ve evolved and shifted with some new folks. And we actually added a keyboardist and a percussionist, Alex Benjamin. And so now we’re like a six piece band and we’re all in,” says Payne.
Chris Jones (singer/songwriter) and Payne put together Wolf Jett in early 2020. Just before the release of their debut album Wolf Jett, the world wide pandemic shut down the dream of being a traveling band.
To make it even more biblical, that August, the CZU Lightning fire consumed Big Basin State Park and much of the Santa Cruz mountains. Payne and his family, and his band, lost their home and studio to a stupendously wide-reaching tragic event.
Besides being an authentically fresh frontman, Jones brings a Southern aesthetic that is elemental in the successful dynamic that drives Wolf Jett. In a country that is polarized, Jones genuinely hopes that Wolf Jett can bring people together.
“We’ve kind of gone for a more international sound,” says Jones from the road. “I am from the South. I’ve lived in New York. A lot of bands are very regional, but we built this band to be a traveling band. We go to Colorado and Oregon and back to the South again. We are able to hit people all over the country. Right now what we need more than ever, and I know this is a cliche, but I’m putting my money where my mouth is in saying that, we need to be moving out of our regions and exploring other people’s cultures and immersing ourselves in other people’s cultures so that we can have more empathy of what other people are thinking. People on both sides of this divide in America have way more in common than what they’re focusing on, on the internet. In the deep south, it’s a completely different political environment. But music can always transcend those boundaries. That’s like the overarching theme of our band,” says Jones.
Wolf Jett will be at the Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton,on Saturday, March 28th, at 8pm. Tickets are $29 and more information can be found at feltonmusichall.com
