WAINWRIGHT IS A GRAMMY NOMINATED AWARD WINNING MUSICIAN AND PRODUCER IN THE WORLD'S ROOTS MUSIC SCENE.
Though his career began over a decade ago with genuine rock n’ roll honky-tonk, Wainwright has broadened his artistic scope over the years to include music representing virtually every corner of the roots music world. His insatiable interest in music discovery, sheer love for entertaining and curiosity have led him all around the world, and the resulting perspective is a reflection of his passion for entertaining and creating progressive roots music in an effort to move the art-form forward. Composer, producer, vocalist, and award wining entertainer and piano player; Victor Wainwright is a raucous high-octane, dynamic performer and crowd pleaser with soul to spare.
The name of Victor Wainwright's band - and the sleeve image of their albums - is also the most fitting of metaphors. In music folklore, the train might have associations with the freight-hopping bluesmen of yore, but with this restless boogie-woogie innovator stoking the furnace, Wainwright is a charging locomotive - surging forward, crashing through boundaries of genre, sweeping up fresh sounds and clattering headlong past the doubters.
As the man himself hollers in the ivory-pounding track, The Train: "If you wanna boogie get aboard the train/Get yourself a ticket or get out of the way..." At a sweet-spot in his career, where most established stars would rest on their laurels, Victor Wainwright & The Train instead rips up all that has gone before, pricking up ears in a sterile music industry and stretching the concept of roots in bold directions.
"I believe that for roots music to grow, and reach out to new audiences, we have to push it forward,” Wainwright explains. The result is original music that walks a tightrope between scholarly respect and anarchic irreverence. You'll hear Wainwright twist boogie-woogie tradition on barrelhouse thrillers driven by his visceral piano style. But you'll also hear him fearlessly explore the gamut of genre, from Latin flavors and New Orleans piano to near-psychedelia. It's a musical cocktail served up by Wainwright's inimitable gravel-flecked vocal.
On this white-knuckle ride, only The Train could keep the music on the tracks. "I ended up with a hit-squad of downright amazing musicians that shared my curiosity for all corners of the roots genre. We wanted to capture how we feel performing, right smack-dab on the records we make, and I believe we've done that. Now I just try to keep up."
In truth, Wainwright has always been an artist that sets the pace. Born into a musical family in Savannah, Georgia, the formative influence of his father's vocals and grandfather's rolling boogie-woogie piano compelled him into a life of music. By 2005, he'd announced his talent with solo debut, Piana' From Savannah, while his central role in Southern Hospitality and partnership with Stephen Dees in WildRoots has seen him ignite stages and stereos for over a decade.
Among his numerous accolades: Wainwright has won six total Blues Music Awards, charted #1 on the Top 10 in the U.S. Billboard and was Nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY.
"Looking back on your career is a tough thing to do," he says. "Challenges are many, and frequent, but when you get it together, it can also be extremely rewarding." A man of many talents, Wainwright is a composer, producer, vocalist, piano player and award-winning entertainer. A long-standing leader of the boogie-woogie pack, he could refer you to his BMA and long list of Blues Blast trophies, or a catalog that has repeatedly hijacked the Billboard Top 10. But rather than dine out on past glories, this questing artist would rather you joined him for the ride ahead. "Of course, I still play and write songs that are just about kicking ass and taking names," he laughs. "But if you listen, what I'm really saying is, we got to get on the train and move forward with our love of roots music, together.”
PRESS
“Wainwright serves as an electrifying guide to a good time-spinning tales, telling his listeners how to beat the blues, and meticulously conjuring raw soul and energy out of his acoustic piano. He displays a sharp sense of humor and a knack for storytelling... every track is brilliant." -Living Blues Magazine
"Victor Wainwright is a world champion piano player, two times over! Not only is Victor one of the greatest blues piano players in the business, he’s also a world class entertainer and vocalist." - Blues Revue Magazine
“Victor Wainwright, winner of this year’s Pine Top Perkins Piano Player Award at the BMA’s, is a force to be reckoned with on a piano. He IS honky-tonk and boogie, with a dose of rolling thunder. Wainwright’s playing is simply beautiful madness.” -American Blues Scene
“Savannah, GA native Victor Wainwright is all about boogie woogie piano, deep soul, and a voice that recalls Dr. John at his best. He is a blues star, a tremendous player.” -Chicago Blues Guide
Memphis Loud
April 24, 2020
If you want to travel America, climb aboard The Train. As a GRAMMY-nominated kingpin of American roots music, Victor Wainwright’s 2020 release is a snapshot of the nation’s great cities and genres, embodying a connection between exciting unseen places with a modern twist.
As the title suggests, Memphis Loud’s rattle-and-shout originals demand to be played at speaker-shaking volume. “Find a moment,” he advises, “to sit back with your favorite headphones or speakers, turn it up, and listen. It’s heavy, and I know you’re gonna love it.”
Stick a pin in the post-millennium roots scene and you’ll find Wainwright at the heart of the action, breaking the rules. Since perking up ears with his 2005 release, Piana’ From Savannah, the now Memphis based Georgia native has been a vital force in the American roots scene, lost count of his industry awards, and elbowed aside the pop pretenders to scale the dizzying heights of the Billboard Top 10. He’s an ageless, genre-defying presence, busting at the seams with original music that darts between Americana, Jam, Soul, Funk, Blues, Jazz and even Psychedelia.
As he says; “Everyone’s welcome aboard the train.” Now, far from running out of steam, Wainwright’s latest locomotive only further stokes his creative fire. Whether in the studio or on the stage, The Train follows their 2019 GRAMMY Nomination with joyous, ears-wide-open music. The exchange of energy is breathtaking. “Our fans are like locomotive firemen,” says the bandleader, “frantically shoveling coal into the furnace. They fuel us as we pull handles, twist knobs and screech around bends. With flying sparks and a wicked whistle, we’re arriving right on time with Memphis Loud.”
All aboard! Renowned for twisting roots music into bold new shapes, Wainwright’s recording sessions in Memphis, flanked by co-producer Dave Gross and a wishlist of special guests, has birthed a modern classic. “I like to produce and write with immense musical curiosity,” he says, “leaving no roots stone unturned, but pushing the art-form forward. I carry with me the lessons from my grandfather, who taught me piano, and countless hours studying the roots of blues, genuine rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, boogie-woogie and honky-tonk, all the while honestly developing that into something modern, fun, unique, emotional and powerful.”
Opening with a cinematic ripple from Wainwright’s fabled fingers on piano, Mississippi grows into an irresistible storied melody, pounding with an immense wall of sound that picks you up and lifts you higher and higher, rightfully setting the tone for the rest of the album… this is going to be a big party! Walk the Walk offers a fun, very catchy brass-driven hook that firmly implants itself and never lets go.
With the album being tracked live, the chemistry and vocal ad-libs remain on the recording, immersing the listener as part of live recording experience. “Sometimes we had upwards near ten musicians in the studio,” he recalls, including fresh faces and old friends. “We’re a big family, with many boxcars to this long train now. Everyone has built up emotional steam in their lives too, and as conductor, all I have to do is utilize that steam to power the Train forward.”
The title track, MEMPHIS LOUD skillfully combines Wainwright’s piano-driven rhythmic fire with the story of a benevolent music-locamotive. Featured artistically on the album’s cover, this unique train proudly offers an exciting journey, escape and redemption to all who board it.
With echoes of New Orleans piano, horns, and haunting chamber vocals, just when you feel like you can’t catch your breath, Sing conjures a cinematic sense of looming, while celebrating the catharsis of music. “By the song’s end,” explains Wainwright, “the listener is surrounded by a hundred singing voices in emotional toil, but relieving that pain by singing, and letting it all out.”
Every track of Memphis Loud is given beautiful attention to detail, commanding respect musically and lyrically; Disappear, a sincerely stunning song about sudden loss, with heart wrenching vocals and a very intentional, heavy ending. Creek Don’t Rise picks you back up off the floor, with its sun-kissed guitars, uplifting piano and story of a couple reigniting their spark while “getting away”. Golden Rule preaches the age ol’ familiar parable with a new twist, funky rhythm, clav and wurlitzer. The wistful America beautifully presents an emotional state of the nation, with powerful vocals and lyrics “Left or right, a path we must choose. We shouldn’t wager, more than we can lose.” South End Of A North Bound Mule with it’s chickenwire riffs, sweetening its hard-luck lyric with humor. Recovery, with it’s classic Americana feel, relatable subject matter and ripping sax solo. My Dog Riley, a love letter to Wainwright’s four-legged companion (“I never ever had a friend so fine,” goes the lyric, even if the hound is often caught “drinkin’ out of the toilet, and pickin’ through the trash”). The gorgeous slow-burn Reconcile, its momentum building and boiling over an epic emotional journey – and closing an album that holds whatever you’re searching for within its boxcars and grooves. “Everyone’s invited and allowed on this train,” says Wainwright. “My Grandfather taught me that no brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. So I’m chuggin’ forward, making sure we give everyone the opportunity to travel, and as we traverse the beautiful winding path of all that roots music has to offer, we arrive fully at the same destination, happily, and all together!”