Solo projects help American roots band The Wood Brothers keep it fresh as tour visits Infinity Hall

Oliver Wood is all over the place. He released a new solo single, “Light and Sweet” recently in anticipation of his new album “Fat Cat Silhouette” coming out next month. He performed with singer-songwriter Chris Kasper on Kasper’s recently released single last week, and he is playing with his main musical project for the past 23 years, The Wood Brothers, at Infinity Hall Hartford on Sunday.

Oliver Wood, who plays guitar (acoustic and electric) and his brother Chris Wood, who play stand-up bass, were both well established with other bands when they decided to work together on a new project. Oliver Wood played with blues star Tinsley Ellis and with his own band King Johnson, releasing his first solo album in 2021. Since 1991, Chris Wood has been in the innovative jazz rock fusion trio Medeski Martin and Wood.

It’s not a given that brothers playing together in a band will get along, just look at the Kinks, the Everly Brothers and Oasis. The Wood Brothers are different.

“We’re four years apart, which helps,” Oliver Woods said. “We went our separate ways. When I left home I ended up in Atlanta. My brother went to Boston and New York and started Medeski Martin & Wood which was more jazz and improvisation. I got more into roots and R&B and things like Little Feat and The Band. We spent time apart enough to become professional musicians. Then we came together. It made us excited to combine forces.”

Wood also doesn’t want to exclude drummer Jano Rix from any discussion of the band’s strengths.

“Jano’s a big part of our sound at this point,” Oliver Wood said. “He also plays keyboards, sometimes at the same time that he’s drumming, which is something to see.”

Oliver Wood, Chris Wood and Rix organize The Wood Brothers tours around their other projects. Oliver Wood has some dates with his own trio coming up this month in the Midwest and in Oregon in June to promote the solo album.

“The reason I do solo things is to collaborate with other people outside of this band,” he explains. He describes The Wood Brothers process as different from his other projects, and he enjoys them all.

“All of us do the writing in The Wood Brothers. Sometime improvise in jam sessions. Sometimes someone brings in lyrics. There are all different ways you can do it,” Oliver Wood said.

When asked how well the trio writes and performs together, Oliver Wood describes the song “Line Those Pockets,” the second single released off of “Heart is the Hero.”

“It started with a Wurlitzer keyboard riff by Jano,” Oliver Wood said. “It was composed over a demo tape of him doing that. It became this pseudo-reggae thing. I had written this lyric that hadn’t worked. It was borderline stupid but was justified by the music. My brother had written a Latin bass line and that upright bass sound made it groove in a different way.

“The germ of a song can be anything,” Oliver Wood added. “We jam, as a creative tool, all the time, but it’s also a way to stay connected and have musical connections.”

Another way the band seeks diversity and variety is in where they choose to play.

“Sometimes on a Wednesday it’s nice to play a nice theater where they aren’t partnering and are really listening,” Oliver Wood said. “Then on a Saturday night, it can be nice to play in rowdy club. Coming into festival season, there’ll be a lot of outdoor shows. The Wood Brothers thrive on the variety of it.”

Changing up the sizes and moods of where they play leads to The Wood Brothers changing up their sets as well. “We do that based on the venue.”

“We always look forward to Connecticut,” Oliver Wood said. Besides Infinity Hall, The Wood Brothers have played the spacious College Street Music Hall, the intimate Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, the semi-outdoor Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport and the fully outdoor Simsbury Meadows. Next month, the band is playing Levitt Pavilion in Westport.

The Wood Brothers will be performing Sunday at 8 p.m. at Infinity Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford. $45. infinityhall.com.