WuGrass: Chris Castino & Chicken Wire Empire will be performing at Wooly's on Friday, April 29th, 2022.
DOORS: 6:30 PM // SHOW: 7:30 PM
About WuGrass
You could say that Chris Castino is a writer of dance music. Not the kind you hear at any club. It’s the kind you hear at a Dead show, or festivals, when the crowd moves together bouncing like an ocean of blissful and emancipated souls. Chris is the primary songwriter for his longtime popular Minnesota-based rock’n’roll jamband The Big Wu. With the incredibly talented band Chicken Wire Empire from Milwaukee, WI, Chris and the boys took the opportunity, while sitting through COVID lock-downs to reimagine some of his catalog into impeccably fitting bluegrass tunes. These songs were transformed and the resulting album, Fresh Pickles, sounds instantly familiar.
This joyous album making process produced many special guest appearances from several GRAMMY winning artists in the bluegrass and Americana world including Sam Bush, Peter Rowan, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Andy Hall, Vince Herman, Nick Forster, Keller Williams, and Adam Greuel.
Met with critical acclaim, including premieres in The Bluegrass Situation, Relix, and Glide, as well as significant radio airplay and on the air in over 25 states—the album hit #4 on the Alt Country Chart, debuted at #13 on the Relix/Jamband Radio Charts, and is on the rise in Americana and Bluegrass radio.
This WuGrass tour is just the beginning of a heartfelt and fulfilling voyage into bluegrass— it features stomping rippers and sweet, harmonic ballads, as well as a taste of genre-shifting psychedelic rides. Always true to the tradition and authentic in presentation, this collaboration is packed with great pickin, excitement and most importantly joy.
About Chris Castino
Guitarist, songwriter, singer Chris Castino of the Big Wu, Momentary Lapse of Floyd, Steal Your Face, Goodwood (with Adam Greuel) - Saint Paul, Minnesota.
About Chicken Wire Empire
Contemporary Bluegrass from Milwaukee Wisconsin's Chicken Wire Empire.
Show pictured above: 3OH!3 & Emo Nite at Wooly's on December 5th, 2018. (Photo taken by Ryan Watanabe)