Audie Blaylock (related story) speaks of reaching a point in his musicianship where he needed to step out on his own to follow his own artistic direction while remaining true to his love of bluegrass.
On Song of the Mountains’ lineup Saturday is a band with which he’ll have plenty in common, The Wilders. The Ozarks-inspired group calls itself a hillbilly band, but their brand new album, “Someone’s Got to Pay,” has influences from a handful of musical styles.
Lead singer and guitarist Ike Sheldon put it this way: “There’s a good maxim in art. You shouldn’t really break the rules until you know the rules. Look at Picasso; the dude
was absolutely amazing. He could draw anything perfectly, very detailed and realistic. That’s how he could move on to other things. We said ‘If we are gonna play country music, let’s learn what makes it tick.’ And now that we know, we are reaping the benefits; we can throw the rules out the window. If you want straight Hank Williams, we can do it right. But don’t give me any s--- for being just like a rock and roller and totally twisting it around.”
Going their own way is evident in the overall presentation of “Someone’s Got to Pay.”All of the songs on the album, released April 15, center on an actual murder trial. It’s an art-music like device where a whole composition, a symphony or an opera perhaps, revolves around a central theme with movements exploring different emotional aspects of it. Song titles like “My Final Plea” and “Sittin’ on a Jury” with its various interspersed versions “Prologue,” “The Prosecution,” “The Verdict,” and “Epilogue,” reflect the emotions and points of view in the collection of songs.
The styles through the album add to both its complexity and coherence as a project. The title track and would be at home on a Bob Dylan compilation. “Wild Old Nory” is southern rock. “Hey Little Darlin’” could have come out of the folk revival.
The piano piece titled “(an old murder ballad comes to life)” is a veritable hymn on piano that segues into track four. Along the way traditional-sounding fiddle tunes add to the blend of styles.
Track 19, “Sittin’ on a Jury: Epilogue,” is a final restatement of the album’s theme followed by the final piece, a pop-rock-sounding “Goodbye (I’ve Seen It All)” that wraps up the project like dessert finishes off a satisfying meal.
“The Wilders draw from a wide variety of inspirations and inject them into the DNA of their sound,” the band’s promotional materials said. “They’re not afraid to acknowledge the African-American influence in hillbilly music or to draw on the rhythms and attitude of modern day hip hop or punk rock.”
Their driving sound comes from a technique Sheldon said the band used to get attention at crowded festivals where a bunch of bands would congregate.
“We got a lot of gigs in the early days doing what we call the Commando Jam,” said Sheldon. “We would set up and just wait. There’s always a moment when nobody else was playing and when it would happen we would just say, ‘Go!’ We’d play the loudest, most heinous fiddle tune. Everyone would think, ‘What the hell is going on over there?’ It was totally commando, like sneaking around and pulling out the machine gun and mowing people down with music. You can’t just be strumming in the corner. You gotta make noise. That’s how we would get a lot of contacts. That’s one reason we play like that.”
The Wilders will bring that driving sound to the Lincoln Theatre at 7 p.m. May 3 for Song of the Mountains where the audience will hear firsthand where they share common artistic ground with Blaylock.
“We’re doing whatever we want and that’s what’s really exciting for us,” Sheldon said.  “This ain’t sitting on the front porch rocking chair music. We play hillbilly music and we play the s--- out of it.”