The group is composed of Al Oikari, Andy Miller, Chris Castino, Mark Joseph Grundhoefer, and Terry VanDeWalker.

From 1998–2006, the band annually held the Family Reunion on Memorial Weekend, and they frequently hold a Wu Years Eve event on December 31.

Big Wu shows quickly became one of the biggest events on campus, and posters widely covered the cafeteria walls at both Carleton and St. Olaf, and throughout Northfield.

Over the next four years a barrage of new songs was written including "Bloodhound", "Red Sky", "Precious Hands", "Kangaroo", and "Puerto Rico."

Andy Miller, also a St. Olaf College graduate, got the job playing bass, and several months later, Al Oikari (Paul Metsa, Cats Under the Stars) sat in on keys and eventually became a member of the band.

The Family Reunion drew thousands of concert-goers each year during the early 2000s, and the festival served to introduce the Midwest to a number of jam bands that would later find a national audience.

For the following two years, the Big Wu were unable to sell CDs to the public because the assets of the record label (including Tracking Buffalo Through the Bathtub and Folktales) were tied up in bankruptcy court.

At the end of the summer in 2002, the Big Wu's contract with Phoenix was nullified, and they were able to buy their assets back, making the release of the newly finished album possible.

The Big Wu played a CD release party for Spring Reverb at the Historic State Theatre on November 2, 2002.

On June 21, 2002, The Big Wu's rising fame gave them the opportunity to open the first ever Bonnaroo Music Festival.

But the reunion with Fladager was short lived and in 2010 the band made the official move to replace him with Northfield, MN native Mark Joseph as the 2nd guitar player.

In 2022 The Big Wu celebrated 30 years with an historic show at Saint Paul's Fitzgerald Theater featuring Fladager, jazz legend Dean Magraw, and Hall of Fame bluegrass musician Peter Rowan, as well a cameo from producer Bill Cutler.