Wood Box Heroes

The Secret Behind 444

Photos by Eric Ahlgrim

Individually, the four musicians of Wood Box Heroes are the super powers of their instruments, a veritable acoustical Justice League with their masterful musical skills. As a combined force, Josh Martin, Matt Menefee, Barry Bales, and Jenee Fleenorbring a wealth of knowledge and experience with their newly formed group. 

For more than 30 years Barry Bales, who plays upright bass, has been a recording/touring musician, songwriter, and producer. He has been a key player of Alison Krauss and Union Station since 1990, collecting 15 Grammy awards and 23 IBMA awards, including four Bass Player of the Year trophies. He co-wrote Chris Stapleton’s smash, “Nobody to Blame,” which became the CMA Song of the Year and won two ACM Awards. 

Jenee Fleenor, fiddler and lead vocalist for the group, is the five-time CMA Musician of the Year. With more than 23 years in Music City, Fleenor is one of the most sought-after session musicians, playing on hit songs for country artists like Jon Pardi’s “Heartache Medication” and “Dirt on My Boots,” Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget,” and Cody Johnson’s “Til You Can’t.” The first woman to ever win the coveted CMA Musician of the Year, Fleenor was also selected ACM Specialty Instrument Player of the Year in 2019. She has toured with hitmakers including Blake Shelton, Steven Tyler of rock group Aerosmith, Martina McBride, Terri Clark, Don Williams, and Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time. As a songwriter, she earned an IBMA nomination in 2001 for Song of the Year for “I Am Strong,” recorded by The Grascals featuring Dolly Parton. 

Josh Martin, lead vocalist and guitarist of Wood Box Heroes,has been a staple in Nashville’s music industry since 2013. The Eastern Kentucky native has independently released the albums, Nothing Holding Me, Cold Again, Strange Times, and The Burden of the Mountain, showcasing his honest songwriting and superb musicianship. Inking his first publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music in 2016, Josh caught the ears of fans with the pop country tunes “How’d You Know” and “Just My Luck.” While Martin enjoyed industry recognition, his heart called out for him to return to his authentic take on music. 

Banjoist Matt Menefee, whoat age 17 won the prestigious Winfield National Banjo Championship, formed two critically-acclaimed bluegrass/acoustic groups, Cadillac Sky and Chessboxer. He has brought his incredible talents to Mumford & Sons, Bela Fleck, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, and Bruce Hornsby, to name a few. A trailblazer of the banjo, Menefee combines his instrumental genius with his passion for video game scores in the 2018’s The Hit Points and 2020’s Lazer Beast. 

Bales, Fleenor, Martin, and Bales joined Bluegrass Unlimited on Google meet for the interview. 

The Beginning

Wood Box Heroes initially began as the brain child of Jenee Fleenor and singer/songwriter Josh Martin, who had been working in the country music field.  “I got sick and tired of country music, and I wanted to go back to my bluegrass roots,” Martin said. In 2021, a northern Michigan promoter invited Martin to bring along a few pickers to play a gig at a venue there. Martin invited Menfree, Fleenor, and Taylor.  “Honestly, it felt like a lightning bolt went through me,” Fleenor says of the first trip. “That’s how much fun I had!” Fleenor was playing a lot of commercial music, but this new venture gave her the opportunity to expand creatively. 

“Josh wrote this epic instrumental, and we would just go off the rails and these people acted like they had never heard music before. Part of me thought maybe it’s just because these people haven’t been to a concert [due to the COVID restrictions]. “Then, we went back the next year and had Barry with us which really did glue the whole thing together.” 

“They had done this trip before, and Josh was working on a bluegrass project,” Bales adds. “Jenee recommended me as somebody that he could send some tracks to let me put the bass on them.”   A few months later, Josh texted Barry to join them for a few shows in Michigan. ‘At this point I’d never laid eyes on Josh; it was all by email. Immediately, I called Jenee, and I said, ‘Hey, is this guy an ax murderer or what? Is this a legit deal?’  She said, “I went last year, and it was the highlight of my summer.”

“We played about eight shows in nine or ten days,” Martin said. “It was intense.”

“Incredible musicians, incredible people,” Bales added. “We had a great time, and it really clicked.” 

A few shows into their second Michigan trip, Fleenor really believed they were onto something special.  “I started thinking, ‘My gosh, what would this be like if we could get in the studio and record?’ I pulled Josh aside, and I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t know if you’re thinking the same thing, but this could be a band. I don’t know if everybody would be into it, and if they’re not, that’s fine, but maybe it’s something we should talk about’.”

“I don’t know that we had a vision,” Bales says. “None of us were looking to start anything, and it just kind of turned out the way it did.”

In the Studio 

The Wood Box Heroes took that same kind of organic approach into the studio.  “Let’s don’t overthink it, and let’s have fun and let’s keep trying to nurture whatever this feeling is that everybody has and not get too serious about it,” Bales says of the recording experience. “It’s like a friend of mine used to say, ‘it’s not rocket surgery’.” 

“We try to dance the fine line between being really prepared and being reckless in the studio,” Martin added. “We just want to have that intensity and that angst in there. We’d get an idea of how we’re going to lay it out, and then, when we get in the studio is really when it starts coming to life.”

Bales says the band members fed off each other’s talents in the studio as if it were a live performance.  “I think we’ve all been in situations where you go in either with a whole band or by putting parts down one at a time,” Bales said. “We’ve all been asked to try to breathe life into something that’s got no life in it, but with this band, with these folks, it was really incredible to me. We could have cut this album live. We were playing with that same spirit that we did in Michigan. We just happened to be in a recording studio with microphones in front of us.”

Their time in the studio was more than work. “We just had so much, darn fun,” Fleenor says. “There’s a point in that song [“Better When We’re Livin’”] where Matt’s playing an epic banjo lick, and he just laughed and we’re like let’s leave it in there.”  

“I almost didn’t make it back to home,” Matt chimes in.  

“It was like a John Hartford moment where it’s just so fun,” Jenee adds. “I just had so much joy in my heart playing this music. All these guys are like my brothers. 

The title cut to the group’s debut album, 444, developed from a bizarre set of circumstances where that number kept reappearing.   “Me and Josh and Matt got together to start tossing around ideas for this record,” Jenee recalls. “When we were recording this work tape, I turned it on, and we’re getting ready to play the song, and it says 444. I said ‘My gosh, and Josh goes, ‘What?’ and I said ‘Look’. He goes ‘444,’ and we included that little snippet of us saying that, but I was like, ‘Wow, this is really something’.”

That was only one of many times when the band intersected with those exact same digits. “I was actually in a bus wreck with Jimmy Fortune and his band four years ago, and it happened at 4:44 in the morning, on Interstate 44, and we were 44 miles from the hotel,” Fleenor said. “I saw 444 on a Bucky’s gas pump, and I took a picture.”

Adds Josh, “The exact second that you took a selfie at the pump it was reading 444 at a running pump. There were two guys at the top [of the pump], and I said those are wood box heroes. That was how the band name came about.” 

The instrumental, “No. 444,” began as a melodic idea from Martin that he fleshed out with Matt and Jenee. “When we get in the studio is when it starts coming to life,” Josh says. “It just kind of fell out when they hit record.”

“Matt’s banjo solo, when he played it, about floored me!” Jenee said.  “I was just playing,” Matt responds.  “I don’t know. This happened, cha, cha!”
Josh, Jenee and Barry laughed at Matt’s reticent, modest explanation. “That is hashtag, #Matt being the genius that he is,” Jenee adds. 

Another Wood Box Heroes’ tune, “Cannonball,” comes from the writing pen of Barry Bales and former bluegrasser Chris Stapleton to whom Bales gives most of the credit.    “It’s hard to adequately describe his talent as a songwriter,” Barry says. “He just comes into the room humming melodies and throwing words out, so you kind of got to grab the tiger’s tail and hang on. That’s one that came out of that and had been sitting on my hard drive for a long time. Even though it was just a work tape or voice memo on my phone, anybody that hears a demo that is Chris Stapleton singing, it’s kind of intimidating for most people. But I thought, if anybody could pull it off, it’s this band.”

Martin co-wrote the cut, “Remember This” with Marla Cannon-Goodman during some down time from a songwriter show in Crested Butte, Colorado. The Wood Box Heroes showcased the song for their debut at the Grand Ole Opry.  “I grabbed my guitar and just started kind of noodling around with that opening riff, and Marla said ‘words’ right off the top. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about “words”?’ And she said, it started with words and I said, you’re writing already. She said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been shooting on this idea of you’re gonna want to remember this part of the story,’ and I said, ‘Gosh, that could be a really cool song. It’s a love song, of course, about letting go and coming to the realization of that, but I just think it’s got such a universal application. With the vibe that we were looking for when we started recording in the studio, it was a no-brainer for us.”

Jenee also teamed with another songwriting partner Ronnie Bowman for “The Way of the Whippoorwill.”  “I’ve known Ronnie for years, but it was the first time we had written together,” Jenee says. “I think we just wanted to write a heartbreak song. It sounds a little bit different than the way we arranged it with Ronnie, but my gosh, he’s such a great writer. There’s something about a heartbreak song. Why do sad songs make me feel so happy really?” she says, laughing. 

Jenee played the song for Josh, and he suggested that she sing it. “It fits my vocal. I’ve had so much good reaction from that song. I really lean into the bluesy side of myself. So I think people are hearing a little different side of my vocal.” 

The Future

What started out as a fun venture between like-minded musicians has blossomed into a more solid gain plan.  “I don’t want to limit the scope of what this could be,” Josh said. “At the same time we’re still conscious that everybody has their own respective industry gigs or lives that were leading right now. We’re just kind of letting it take us wherever it wants to go.”

“Overall, it’s hard to find that balance between letting this thing be what it’s going to be and have the spirit that it has, yet we have to do some of the nuts and bolts of getting people in place and folks that can help us,” Barry said. “We’re hoping to get the organization built and get out there, and as great as I think these guys are in the studio, it’s a whole ‘nother level what they can do live.”    “It’s sickening!” Josh adds. 

Bales responds, “They’re a bunch of piranhas. I’m really anxious to get out there and let people see up close and personal.”