I love Oliver's (the guitar player) tone. But try out this analogy AJ. A painter. No, not a house painter. But let's say a painter finds a certain type of paint, a particular brand, or mixture of paints that he likes. They have a certain look or character to them. Tone might be analogous to this particular paint. There's still the actual picture, AKA the painting. My impression is that many guitar players these days get stuck on the paint, to the detriment of the actual painting. And of course, you can disagree. Reasonable people should be able to disagree and engage in an honest conversation about aesthetics.
BTW, in the radio concert there is some interview time. If you didn't watch the whole thing, their father was a Harvard educated molecular biologist (whatever that is exactly). Their father was also a musician. I think a folk musician. They grew up playing with him and so on. They dug into his Beatles albums, and much more. When "Freight Train Blues" in mentioned, one of them points out that it was on Bob Dylan's 1st album.
And, Chris Wood has been a part of a band that's not been on my radar, Medeski, Martin and Wood. Apparently they're (or were) a jazz fusion sort of trio. Not really familiar with them. But this Woods Brothers format resonates with me. They've going to be in Brevard NC on April 21st. I've been planning to leave around mid-April on a trek toward Santa Fe (road trip). The question here is whether I want to delay my trip to trek up to see these guys. My sister (up in Asheville) checked their website and told me they will be headed to the UK and won't be back in the region (they're based out of Nashville) till October.