The Waddington Brothers’ credo is “Finding inspiration in every tune.” Based in North Dakota, the family band consists of Seth Waddington on guitar, his twin brothers, Jacob and Ethan, on mandolin and banjo, respectively, and their youngest brother, Job, on bass.
The boys come by their musical abilities naturally. Long before their current band was formed, they spent the early years of their life in a band with their parents. “Our dad was the band leader, singing and playing guitar. We played together as a family from 2004 to 2011,” says Ethan. Seth, Jacob, and Ethan were joined by two of their sisters, touring the United States and Canada and performing country Gospel music. During their shows, Ethan, Jacob, and their sister, Amanda, played bluegrass music while their parents took a break. When the twins were twelve, they played in their first bluegrass festival, “Frozen Fingers,” in Minot, North Dakota. During that time, Job and Olivia were born, the two youngest Waddington children.
After a few years of performing, the kids participated in the Youth in Bluegrass program at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. They were also getting noticed elsewhere, especially when Ethan won the second-place prize in the national banjo competition in Winfield, Kansas, in 2009.
Growing up, the family lived a life of ranching and performing. “My dad worked on ranches in Montana, Washington, and Oregon,” says Ethan. “All of us except Job were born in Washington State,” Ethan explains. His dad would leave on weekends to tour with the family, and he began to worry that the other ranchers would feel he wasn’t pulling his weight. “He decided to start a tree service as a means of self-employment, giving him the freedom to travel when he wanted to.”
But when the band stopped, the music was over. “We didn’t play music for eight or nine years,” Ethan says. “It was almost more painful to play music than not. We missed it.”
Ethan and Jacob moved to Montana, where they spent the next six or seven years building log homes. Seth married and had four children, staying in North Dakota to work for his dad’s tree service. Young Job also works for the tree service.
While they didn’t grow up in a bluegrass culture, the boys listened to The Darlings on the Andy Griffith Show. Seth says he later learned that real musicians in the band, The Dillards, played the Darling characters. “We all grew up watching the old shows,” says Seth. “We loved to watch Westerns, probably because our dad worked on ranches in the West. We watched Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey, and we listened to the Sons of the Pioneers every night. I could hardly get to sleep without listening to the Cool Water album. My dad even took it with us on vacation.”
The boys felt music pulling at their hearts, and one night, Ethan, Jacob, and Seth discussed the idea of starting a new band. They were so serious about it that Ethan and Jacob quit their jobs in Montana and moved home to start the band. The three-piece band needed a bass player, and their first pick was Job. “He had just turned 15,” says Ethan. “Seth told him to think about it because we were going to be hard on him. Job thought about it and came back, telling us he was in.” Ethan says having Job in the band has been great for all the brothers. “We have all bonded through the process.”
They formed The Waddington Brothers in 2020. “It was during the Covid pandemic, but that wasn’t too much of a setback for us, as we were just getting started,” explains Seth. “We spent a lot of time working on material.”
Whatever they have been doing was working. They met Greg Cahill with Special Consensus at a festival, who encouraged them to go to the SPBGMA convention in Nashville. “It was a two-day drive for us, but when we realized there was a competition where we could play on the big stage, we decided to do it.” That gamble paid off for the band. They won first place in the international band championship at the 2023 SPBGMA awards ceremony.
“We were so surprised,” says Seth. “We were just excited to go to the awards show. We can’t wait to go back to Nashville again soon.”
While they were raised on Gospel and enjoyed big band swing and other forms of music, they settled into bluegrass. “We got to know the Kruger Brothers when we were younger, and they have greatly inspired us,” Ethan says. “They taught us a lot and changed the way we view music. They taught us what makes music speak to people.”
Ethan says that they still connect to Western music. In addition to bluegrass, they play a few Western tunes, a throwback to watching Westerns while growing up. “There’s something romantic about the American West,” Ethan says. “We like to sing songs about tumbling tumbleweeds and such. I think that’s responsible for our sound as a band. We tend to have vocals that sound more like Western singers than Appalachian vocals.” Seth says they learned to play Western music for fun because they loved it. “When we play it in shows, people of all ages seem to connect to it.”
Now, the boys hope to record soon and are looking into studio options. “We are even working on a few original songs.” Seth says they have access to some “really good” original music. My uncle is a great songwriter, and he has several songs for us to work on. We are also trying to write some of our own songs.”
Seth says they enjoy listening to old music and pulling elements from it. Somehow, The Waddington Brothers retain the old sound while adding a modern twist. The band has a traditional bluegrass sound but with a unique style they have made their own. Their website says their musical style “transcends time, bringing listeners back to a place where music was more than just entertainment, but rather a way of life.”
While the band is based in North Dakota, it is booking festivals nationwide—and bookings are picking up. “We have more shows booked this year than we have in the past,” Seth says. This summer, we are playing in Minnesota, Kentucky, and Arkansas so far. We’ll also be back in Silver Dollar City in May. We’ll go just about anywhere.”
The Waddington Brothers are serious about their music; we think they are a band to keep in your sights. Check out their music on their website: https://www.waddingtonbrothers.com/videos.
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