Innovative. Upbeat. Creative. Fun. Named Boston’s Americana Artist of the Year, David Wax Museum has been gathering awards, rave reviews and a dedicated following. On Friday, February 8, the self-proclaimed “Mexo-Americana” indie sensation makes its Idaho debut.
In addition to being the only time they’ll be playing in Idaho in the near future, it may well be the only time anybody has rattled a donkey jawbone at the Sun Valley Opera House. 
Anchored by David Wax and Suz Slezak, the folk and roots band has received gushing reviews from Time magazine (“virtuosic musical skill and virtuous harmonies”), the New Yorker (“kicks up a cloud of excitement with its high-energy border-crossing sensibility”) and NPR (“pure, irresistible joy”), where the band has been featured on Mountain Stage, World Café and All Things Considered.
David Wax Museum has just released its fourth album, Knock Knock Get Up, which the Boston Globe called one of the best local albums of 2012 and was just added to the lineup of the 2013 Wakarusa Festival. “This band is on a lineup with Widespread Panic, Black Crowes, Calexico and Galactic to give you an idea of who they rub shoulders with. It’s everyone’s chance to see a band whose star is rising quickly – and you won’t have to travel to a gigantic Festival to see them!” said Kristine Bretall, Director of Performing Arts at The Center. 
While most listeners will easily recognize the familiar sounds of Americana roots and folk music, David Wax has created a sound that also blends in Mexican Son music. While spending summers in rural Mexico, David got interested in the instruments and beats of Mexican folk music and in 2007, Wax teamed up with violinist and singer Suz Slezak, who he encouraged to track down a quijada, a traditional Mexican percussion instrument made from a donkey's jawbone. What began as an innovative duo is now a four piece band that amongst them play fiddle, accordion, drums, cajon, bass, guitars, keyboards and sing incredible vocals.
David Wax Museum’s performance is part of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts Winter 2012–2013 Winter Performing Arts Series and is a part of The Center’s multidisciplinary project Crossing Cultures: Ethnicity in Contemporary America, which explores our increasingly multiracial and multiethnic society through visual arts exhibitions, classes, lectures and performances. Crossing Cultures is sponsored in part by Paul G. Allen Foundation. The concert received support from WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A grant from the Donald W. and Gretchen K. Fraser Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation is supporting the concert and a school residency. 
The concert begins at 6:30 pm Friday, February 8 at the Sun Valley Opera House. Tickets are available online at www.sunvalleycenter.org for $20 Sun Valley Center members / $30 nonmembers / $10 students 18 and under. Tickets can also be purchased by phone at 208.726.9491 ex 10 or stop by The Center in Ketchum.
