Oxbow String Company

Oxbow String Company is Scott Partika (vocals, guitar), Thomas Wetmore (vocals, banjo, guitar, piano, mandolin) and John Homan (vocals, bass), a folk, rock, Americana-Irish outfit based in Central Ohio. 

The Genesis: Born out of  backyard jams around a smoldering fire and a mutual love of roots music, Oxbow String Company was for years, a nameless project by Scott Partika and Thomas Wetmore kept tucked away in backyards off US-Route 33 in small-town Canal Winchester, Ohio. A meandering affection for old-time Appalachian fiddle tunes to traditional bluegrass to Irish rebel ballads to contemporary folk-rock was the ember that eventually engulfed into a unique sound.

Thomas Wetmore, who grew up a stones throw away from the banks of Sycamore Creek, in the little town of Pickerington, Ohio, became enthralled by the banjo in his high school years and then attending Avett Brothers concerts.  Although his first instrument was the piano, starting at age 8, Wetmore has attempted just about every stringed instrument, branching out in his college years while playing with a few small bands in the Southeast Ohio college town of Athens. Wetmore recklessly picked up a banjo, and then a few more, and began his interpretation of several different banjo styles, resulting (and still evolving in some ways) in what comes out today. 

Scott Partika, raised on the banks and brownfields of the mighty Mahoning River, right where the water of Ohio flowed into Pennsylvania for the first time, in the little town of Lowellville, Ohio just outside of Youngstown. It was his formative teenage years where he first found himself enthralled with the art of the acoustic guitar, mentored in the art by the renowned Jim Gioppo, of the Ohio Borderline Band, he first started busting blisters and singing along out of tune to just about any campfire song of Prine, Petty, or Dylan. From there Scott journeyed south, down to the Scioto River, where he wandered into the local Irish pub one night, Tara Hall, which quickly became a second home. An “O'Connell” by his mother's side, his love for Irish ballads and pub tunes flourished under the mentorship of Jim Wade and Ed Norris, of the renowned Hooligan's Irish Band.

Many a conversations over beers about "actually starting something"  came and went as Partika and Wetmore played off and on at an Irish pub and birthday parties but did so sparingly from about 2019-2022. In December 2022, the duo, who frequently took the stage alongside fellow Central Ohio acts, finally took the advice from friends and listeners to create a distinct impression. Ideas for band names came and went, exchanged in text messages between the two for what seemed like weeks. A name would garner mild esteem but never materialized. The name “Oxbow String Company” emerged not drawing a deliberate illustration in name but has the hopeful prospect of becoming some artsy metaphor for the graceful yet meticulous flow of a meandering river, carving away its own bends and curves, leaving crescent-shaped oxbow lakes along its path. And that is where we pick up, on our meandering canal boat…

John Homan, born and raised just a jog from the mighty Lake Erie, started his musical endeavors early and never stopped learning to this day. A jack of many musical trades, including the step of “Irish Dance”, it was his slap on the bass guitar that led him to hop on board with Oxbow String Company in December 2023. A “Corcoran” by his mother's side, John stemmed from the strong Irish family tradition of the Cleveland East Side Irish American Club - Where their love for Irish music ran deep. Thanks to his time spent living in Southeast Ohio, in the small town of Athens, John found the unique blend of Irish and Appalachian tunes to be calling him to dive in.

Fathers of seven young children between the three of them, and with special thanks to three graceful, forgiving, loving and beautiful wives, Oxbow String Company continues to stretch and challenge their reach.