CULTURE
Photo by Ty Helbach.
Photo by Ty Helbach.
Bluegrass Pickings - Chicken Wire Empire and The Big Wu’s Chris Castino Team Up for Collaborative Album
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BY JOSHUA M. MILLER
ometimes life hands you lemons and you make lemonade. Or if you’re not into lemons, fresh pickles. On their new collaborative album Fresh Pickles, out Feb. 4, Milwaukee’s Chicken Wire Empire and Chris Castino, frontman of Minnesotabased rock jam band The Big Wu, did just that, creating a sonically delectable sound. As the pandemic eased last year, Castino decided to make music. He picked some of his favorite Big Wu songs—some dating back to the band’s first album 25 years ago—and recruited Chicken Wire Empire to reimagine them in their unmistakably energetic, progressive bluegrass style. “I said, ‘Here’s a crazy idea … what if we took a bunch of songs that I’ve written that you guys probably know and rearranged them and put the Chicken Wire Empire stamp up on them,’” recalls Castino. “They were super into that idea, and I was 58 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
surprised but encouraged … They rearranged the tunes in a cool way, and it started to come together.” The members of Chicken Wire Empire have long been fans of The Big Wu and Castino’s songwriting. Founders Jordan Kroeger and Ryan Ogburn have known him since their early 2000s band Stealin’ Strings, which got to open for The Big Wu. They bonded through admiration for each other’s talents and playing shows together. After playing recent tribute shows to Jeff Austin’s album Songs From the Tin Shed, they decided to collaborate. “Part of the reason I love working with him is because we do things differently but in a complimentary way where we can work together,” says Kroeger. “It gelled fairly quickly because we come from slightly different backgrounds with our two bands. He came more folk country and rock and roll. We came from the Earl Scruggs bluegrass world and beyond.”
