With captivating harmonies and much needed feel good songs, The Wildwoods are a notable trio consisting of Noah Gose on guitar, Chloe Gose on violin, and Andrew Vaggalis on upright bass. Their acoustic blend of folk, country, and 40s swing meets a laid back front porch are as refreshing as a sip of sweet iced tea on a hot sunny day. Here’s our interview with The Wildwoods, “Artists You Should Know”.

Answered by Andy Vaggalis of The Wildwoods

Where did you grow up and where do you call home now?

All three of us were born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. We’ve made a lot of friends with artists around the country that have moved to bigger hubs, including many of our pals in Lincoln. While I’d certainly like to make a move like that someday, our road-lifestyle is significantly eased by being able to come home to a soft place to land where many of our family and friends reside. The cheaper rent doesn’t hurt either (:

How have the life experiences of where you lived affected your songwriting or the songs you choose to record?

We’ve often talked about how so many cities have a ‘signature sound’ so to speak. Whereas with Lincoln, virtually every genre seems to be represented in some capacity, without there being one predominant style. This theory, in tandem with the fact that the music scene itself is very tight-knit, results in musicians of different genres stretching their legs and performing together. Before we started hitting the road full time, we performed in wedding bands, weekly residencies in various bars and consistently hopped on gigs with our buddies playing jazz, blues, funk, pop, country, R&B etc.. I think these experiences within our community are a big reason our music, albeit underneath the folk ‘umbrella’, incorporates the qualities of a lot of different genres.

What artists/songwriters have impacted or influenced your work the most?

Watchhouse (Formerly Mandolin Orange), Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Andy Shauf, The Beatles, Radiohead

When you perform, what do you hope is your audience’s biggest takeaway?

I like the idea of our performances feeling like we’re playing songs in someone’s living room, shooting the breeze back and forth, and just kicking it! Even if we’re in a 500 seat theater, I hope we’re still able to achieve this with stories, banter, and a sound that’s just as professionally crafted as it is raw and authentic.

Tell me a little bit about your latest project?

While we have an album set for release on April 11th, 2025, our latest project would probably these 3 singles we’ve worked on this summer. These 3 songs won’t be on the upcoming album, but generally, they aptly summarize our sound quite well. ‘Cherry Pickin” (released July 12th) has a bouncy gypsy-jazz inspired style that really showcases Chloe’s violin playing. ‘There Goes the Neighborhood’ (released August 16th) is one of my favorites. It’s about all of the old businesses or beautiful historic architecture that’s been tore down over the last few years in Lincoln. The arrangement flows very smoothly section to section with cleverly written background vocals. The last single, ‘Postcards From Somewhere’ (set for release later this month) is a heartfelt ballad with lush harmonies, a gripping instrumental motif and simple yet gut wrenchingly-effective lyrics that serves as a love letter from us to our home that we so often miss.

With my honey out picking cherries,
Feeling happy as I might ever be
Her hands are red, like roses blooming in February
Carrying a pail filled with cherry wine,
The ones we picked ourselves will do fine
I’ll fill your glass if and only if you will fill mine

Cherry Pickin’ by The Wildwoods

What was different or unique about your approach to this last project as compared to previous ones?

The main differences would be the timeframe and varying style. While the project wasn’t rushed by any means. We certainly set deadlines for ourselves to finish these singles. It was a perfect example of a deadline spurring creativity as there was little time to overthink or overcomplicate things. The result was three unique, very different, and in my opinion, excellent tunes.

Was there ever a time you felt like you wanted to quit making music? Tell us a little bit about your answer.

Nope! I’ve spent enough time trying other stuff (construction, project management, music instructor to name a few) to figure out that, at least for now, this is the only thing that I want to do.

What is your funniest or favorite “on the road” story when touring?

An old woman pulled me aside once after a show. She told me about her life and a few very wild stories about her husband working in some highly classified government job. She said I wouldn’t believe some of the things that she knew. So naturally I was curious, thinking she’d say some conspiracy about aliens or that the real Paul McCartney died in the 60s or something like that. Instead she says she knew Jim Morrison and how he “wasn’t as big ‘down there’ as one might hope.” I was NOT expecting that but here we were. Before I could think of what to say in response, she continued “Bob Dylan was an asshole. Same with Peter and Paul but Mary was actually a really nice lady.” Did she really meet all these people? I’ll never know but I definitely enjoyed the wild conversation!

Who or what keeps you grounded the most?

It’s a cliche answer to say, but I’d say my family. Whenever life gets hectic and I get tunnel vision on any given project, a phone call with mom or getting a facetime call from my nephew always puts my priorities back in perspective.

What advice would you give artists just starting out?

Find your voice by leaving no stone unturned. Find elements from other artists that you like and find out how you can emulate that element. If it’s music, learn the songs and find likeminded folks to play those songs with! Go to open mics, challenge yourself by trying things that make you a little uncomfortable and conqeur that feeling! Be conscious of what kind of environments inspire you and what drains you so that you can put yourself in the position to be inspired. One of my biggest faults growing up was resigning myself to the notion that inspiration spurs spontaneously. Which can be true, but we have the ability to foster an environment to be inspired and make art!

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