I first became aware of David Wax Museum back in 2008 when the band’s first album “I Turned Off Thinking About” was released. Built around the husband and wife team of David Wax and Sue Slezak, and originally based in Boston, they now call Virginia home and released “You Must Change Your Life” in May 2023.

The duo will be coming to One Longfellow Square on Aug. 1 and to that end, I decided to reconnect with Wax to find out how things are going for him and his wife in the 15 years since last we spoke.

Q: Having listened to your latest album, I have to say that ever since I’ve been doing this music journalism gig I’m drawn to recordings that have rhythmic changes and the genre-melding that you do, I find it intriguing and quite enjoyable, as well. How did all of this come about, this approach to music?
A: Well, thank you for that. I think that part of what you might be picking up on, or responding to, is this deep love and subsequent integration of Latin, and particularly Mexican, folk rhythms that have played a pretty informative role in the development of this band. I grew up in central Missouri listening to country and American folk music which tends to not be very adventurous when it comes to rhythmic variability, it so easily falls into — traditionally— 4/4 (time).

When I first started going down to Mexico I fell in love with Mexican folk music and really gravitated toward the rhythmic depth of 6/8 and the variations that happen in 6/8 time. I felt inspired to bring as much of that as possible into my own songwriting and into the rhythmic template of the band.

Q: How far back does this influence go in your recorded work?
A: I think you could trace that back definitely to “Everything Is Saved,” a record that came out in 2011, even though we were starting to experiment with it in a small degree in our first two, kind of more home-spun records. I mean, I also think, and it’s kind of an old-school approach now, but I just love making albums and taking the listener on a journey, creating the space where you’re building a relationship with the listener, and I think that those are the kind of artistic experiences that have changed my life.

Q: I can definitely relate to that, especially at my age, having grown up with physical, vinyl albums rather than digital downloads and singles. I miss the flow of the songs that would take me on that musical journey you referred to earlier.
A: That’s what feels the most inspiring to me as a creator is trying to build as big and broad of a sonic world and embrace the idea that the listener is on an emotional journey through the record. So for me, the rhythmic variations and genre-melding enables me to deepen that experience for the listener.

Q: Well, that explains why this album struck me as very inviting, warm and beckoning, and when you introduce the cultural elements that you’re bringing in, that gives us new insight and probably a new way to listen to the music.
A: Well put.

Q: Oh, I should have asked this earlier — have you ever played at One Longfellow Square before?
A: We have indeed. This will be our first time playing as a duo at that venue, on this tour it’s just the two of us and our kids and a road-nanny, this is how we’ve been doing these summer tourings. The band got started in Boston and so New England has been the spiritual home of the band even as we’ve moved south. One of our first gigs we ever got outside of Boston was at One Longfellow Square back in 2008.

Q: Okay, that’s probably where I first chatted with you and reviewed your first album.
A: Yes, I believe that’s true. We’ve been back since and we really loved all of our experiences in Maine, we’re also playing on Cliff Island this tour which is our children’s favorite spot from their recent tour experience. We’ll have a couple of days off there before we play Portland.

Q: How old are your kids?
A: 7 and 10.

Q: Well, that’s cool that you’re able to include your children in this traveling, touring life you lead.
A: Oh, yeah, they’ve both been on the road since they were 6 weeks old, that’s our family life and we feel really grateful that we’re able to tour as a family.

Q: David, think of what they’re able to experience — those kids are so lucky!
A: I just got back from the Wilco Festival this past weekend and it was very touching and inspiring to see Jeff Tweedy performing with his kids who are now accomplished musicians in their own right, it was like a family-band atmosphere there.

Q: Do you think your young ones will pick up on the music making vibe? Do you want them to or would you rather they didn’t?
A: I’m not sure. We want it to be of their own accord if that’s their path. It’s all around them and normalized and they both are very creative, but it’s maybe too early to tell.

Q: How do the songs on the album translate to a duo live performance?
A: It’s a process of reimagining. Of course certain aspects can’t be captured with just the two of us, but the lyrics become more front and center, the harmonies become more front and center, and the nature of the show becomes more personal engagement and story-telling. And we will not just be performing this new record, it came out over a year now, so our live set covers a pretty diverse spread of the band’s catalogue and new material we’re working on. It’ll be a pretty broad cross-section of our catalogue and not just focused on the new record.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
A: Well, let’s see. We’ve been making this life in music for 17 years and it’s an incredible base of fans that have made that possible. One of the biggest challenges is getting new people in the door that have never heard us, so I would offer and invitation to come along and see for yourself.

One of the reasons we still do this is that we just love performing live and we love building that relationship with the audience. It’s a sacred space that’s created when you share music in a room with other people … and seeing live music is just an essential part of being alive.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.