The Wonder Licks

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Fulgurite is what happens when lightning strikes mud. It’s also what listening to The Wonder Licks feels like: Somewhere on the banks of the Big Muddy, in a white-hot flash of sound and fury, Americana music grew legs, stood up, and called itself a band.

Founder Jacob Wunderlich enlisted in classical piano lessons as a wee lad. By his early teens, Wunderlich was writing duets for his friends and modifying the lyrics of radio hits to make his sisters pee their pants. A move to Nashville, TN at 18 years old would inspire delusions of grandeur:

While a music business student, Wunderlich taught himself to play guitar and sing, “...trying as hard as [he] could to sound like [his] idols: My Morning Jacket, Joanna Newsom, The Gun Club, David Bowie, Wilco, Father John Misty, Elvis, Kate Bush, The Replacements, Ben Folds, Ween…” while growing into his own. A university housing lottery paired him with the band’s drummer, Tyler Reina, sparking a musical partnership resulting in Vega Maestro’s Hello Voyeur (2020) and God Mic (2023) albums.

Wunderlich’s first solo project, Prone To Fits Of Madness (2019), was a creative thesis based on poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot. The band’s next output, full-length LP K, Ok, O.K., OKAY!, released in 2023. Watch the music video for “I’m Not Going To Sit In Your Back Pocket!”