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The approach of singer-songwriter Beth Wood encompasses more than just the rootsy end of the musical spectrum; one can hear rock, folk and more in her music. And in fact her creative endeavors extend beyond making music.<\/p>\nThe approach of singer-songwriter Beth Wood encompasses more than just the rootsy end of the musical spectrum; one can hear rock, folk and more in her music. And in fact her creative endeavors extend beyond making music.<\/p>\n
Part of Wood’s wide creative perspective comes from having spent time living in three very distinct locales. Wood grew up in Lubbock, Texas; there she was exposed to classical music, AM radio pop, FM rock and country music. In her teens, she moved east.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to college in Brevard right out of high school, and I immediately fell in love with it,\u201d Wood says. Even after leaving upon graduating, she says that she \u201cended up moving back to Brevard a couple more times.\u201d Wood developed close musical ties with the band Jupiter Coyote. \u201cThey helped me get my start in touring and showed me the ropes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Wood’s time in Western North Carolina also helped her connect with the rich singer-songwriter community that exists here. She names Chris Rosser, David LaMotte, Christine Kane and Billy Jonas among her regional favorites. Rosser produced Ghostwriter<\/i>, Wood’s 2001 album recorded in part at Asheville’s Grey Eagle.<\/p>\n
So in a sense, Wood \u2013 who today lives in Portland, Oregon \u2013 is experiencing a kind of homecoming with her participation in the Songsmith Gathering at Brevard Music Center. With a character that’s distinctly different from most music festivals, the Songsmith Gathering fits in with Wood’s approach to music. \u201cSo many festivals are really big, with several stages,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd you can get lost in that.\u201d In contrast, though the Songsmith Gathering has two stages, Wood notes that \u201cThe focus is on one thing at a time, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
And one of the most remarkable things taking place at the event is the Songsmith School. Working alongside Sarah Siskind (profiled in the May 2017 issue of Bold Life<\/i>), Wood will lead a hands-on songwriting workshop. \u201cSomething really magical happens when a bunch of creative people get together,\u201d she says. \u201cYou feel like you\u2019re with your tribe of people, and there\u2019s an energy that comes out of it that leaves everyone inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n
The workshop will include creativity exercises, co-writing and discussion of what does and doesn’t work. \u201cEverybody will have a chance to hear each other with song circles, too,\u201d Wood says. \u201cBeing able to take all that knowledge and start something with Sarah in Brevard is going to be amazing.\u201d And even though Wood admits to being an introvert, she says that \u201cusing music as a connecting point is easy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beth Wood’s upcoming release, the Kickstarter-funded The Long Road <\/i>will be her 11th<\/sup> album. And though it’s a solo project, Wood says it doesn’t feel like one. \u201cYou\u2019re doing something with all of these people who have signed on,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, in many ways, it’s a collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n Taken together, writing, playing, singing and leading songwriting workshops are still not quite enough to express all of Wood’s creativity. So she’s preparing to publish a book of poetry \u2013 her second, in fact \u2013 Ladder to the Light<\/i>. \u201cPoetry and music are different train tracks in my mind,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI keep a journal, and I write every day. And I can tell when I start writing if it’s going to be on the poetry track or the music track.\u201d<\/p>\n Poetry and song lyrics \u201cfeel different, and are<\/i> different,\u201d Wood says. \u201cPoetry has a different focus on form than song does,\u201d she explains. \u201cWith song, you’re thinking about things like rhyme; my poetry doesn’t rhyme.\u201d But Wood’s storytelling skills are on brilliant display in both idioms.<\/p>\n Ladder to the Light<\/i> complements Wood’s first poetry collection, 2015’s Kazoo Symphonies<\/i>. So 2018 sees the release of a new album and<\/i> a new book from the woman described as a modern-day troubadour. And Wood doesn’t draw a sharp line between her two chosen forms of creative expression. \u201cI like to weave in a few poems through my shows,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that’s fun, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The approach of singer-songwriter Beth Wood encompasses more than just the rootsy end of the musical spectrum; one can hear rock, folk and more in her music. And in fact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41],"tags":[3751],"class_list":["post-16289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-interview","tag-beth-wood","cat-30-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16291,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16289\/revisions\/16291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}