Article Contributed by Philip Andrews
Published on 2026-08-02
Wolph | Richmond, VA | July 31st, 2026 - photos by Philip Andrews
Virginia’s own Wolph brought the good vibes to The Broadberry on Friday night, playing the official pre-party for the JamPacked Craft Beer and Music Festival, which kicked off the next day, August 1. The timing of the festival was no accident, either. This year’s JamPacked landed on Jerry Garcia’s birthday, and the festival’s producing partner made a point of noting that fact. Headliner Oteil & Friends, led by Dead & Company co-founder Oteil Burbridge, promised a couple of sets built largely around Dead music. Wolph made sure that celebration got started a night early.
This band doesn’t work from a fixed setlist. They play on the fly, calling songs in the moment and letting the night shape itself, and that approach was on full display from the first note. The band was locked in with each other all set long, trading cues and reading the room the way only players who trust each other completely can, with two drummers, Cole Morgan and James Dale, driving the rhythm section together. The energy in the building was electric, and the crowd was grooving from start to finish.
Wolph’s sound leans heavily on the Grateful Dead songbook, and that’s no accident. Guitarist and vocalist Joshua Wright grew up on the Dead from an early age, thanks to his mom, who, by her own account, brainwashed him with it early and often. It clearly took. The band ran through a heavy rotation of Dead covers all night, but what stood out just as much were the originals folded into the mix. Songs like “Richmond Hill,” “Second to None,” “The Weird West Pt. 1,” “Singing My Blues into an Empty Room,” and “Romulus & Remus” never felt like a detour from the Dead material around them. They felt like they belonged in the same room, built from the same DNA.
The first set opened with a jam that rolled straight into “Greatest Story Ever Told” and “Big Railroad Blues,” then moved through “Estimated Prophet” into “Eyes of the World” and a segue into “Eleanor Rigby” before landing on the original “Richmond Hill.” The set closed with “Scarlet Begonias,” one of the clear highlights of the night and the kind of song that gets an entire room moving in the same direction at once.
Set two opened with the original “Second to None” before diving into “Jack Straw,” “The Weird West Pt. 1,” “Blue Sky,” “Singing My Blues into an Empty Room,” and “Romulus & Remus,” closing out with “Supplication.” The band came back for an encore of “Southbound” to send the crowd home happy.
Wolph is quickly making a name for itself in the jam scene, and it’s easy to hear why. The band’s debut single, “Blue Miracle,” was produced by Dave Schools, bassist and founding member of Widespread Panic, a co-sign that carries real weight in this world. It’s the kind of detail that tells you people who know this scene are paying attention to what this band is building.
The band is rounded out by guitarist and vocalist Dylan Stickle, drummers Cole Morgan and James Dale, bassist Jacob Spence, and keyboardist Greg Gernon. Wright and Stickle are both just 19 years old, which makes the chemistry and command they showed onstage even more impressive. This is a band that plays like it has been doing this for decades, not one still working through its teenage years.
One detail from the stage setup was too good not to mention. Cole’s bass drum was hand-painted by Lena Ellis, sister of Goose’s Cotter Ellis. It’s a small touch, but it says something about the community Wolph is part of, one where bands support each other and the connections run deep.
By the time “Southbound” closed out the night, it was clear why Wolph was the right choice to kick off JamPacked weekend. This is a band built on the Grateful Dead’s foundation but writing its own story on top of it, and Friday night at The Broadberry was proof that the story is only getting more interesting from here.
