Pitchfork: James Toth Sheds Wooden Wand, Signs to Rykodisc

James Toth Sheds Wooden Wand, Signs to Rykodisc
John Dietrich of Deerhoof, Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich guest

Photo by Bo Streeter

A year after announcing that he would be shedding the Wooden Wand moniker following 2007's James & the Quiet LP, James Jackson Toth is keeping his word.

On July 29, Rykodisc will release Waiting in Vain, Toth's first full album under his given name. Ryko is a fitting home for Toth, since, as previously reported, the label's Senior Director of A&R and Artist Development is none other than Slim Moon, founder of Kill Rock Stars and 5RC, former home to Wooden Wand.

Solo affair though it is, Waiting in Vain finds Toth in some impressive company, with contributions from Nels Cline of Wilco, Andy Cabic of Vetiver, Carla Bozulich of Evangelista, and John Dietrich of Deerhoof, and production work from Pacific Northwest staple Steve Fisk.

Check out lead-off track "Nothing Hides" below.

Those seeking Toth solo dates for the moment will be disappointed, though Toth's MySpace blog suggests he's searching for a U.S.-playable copy of the 1981 Kim Basinger/Tanya Tucker drama Hard Country on DVD, so perhaps you and he can work out some mutually beneficial arrangement?

Waiting in Vain:

01 Nothing Hides
02 Doreen
03 The Banquet Styx
04 Look in On Me
05 Becoming Faust
06 Poison Oak
07 Midnight Watchman
08 Beulah the Good
09 The Park
10 Do What You Can
11 My Paint
12 The Dome