Beth Wood is a modern-day troubadour with a stunning voice, poetic lyrics, and strong guitar stylings. Soulful, organic, free-range, barefoot, high-energy communication of joy. Winner of 2005 Kerrville New Folk Contest. "A voice and songs this strong are bound to perservere."--Dallas Morning News
“There must be something in the water.”
That’s the inevitable phrase Beth Wood hears any time she talks about growing up in Lubbock, a high plains Texas town with a uniquely rich musical heritage that includes Buddy Holly, Natalie and Lloyd Maines, Mac Davis, and Joe Ely to name a few. Beth doesn’t remember the water tasting particularly funny, so all can she do is nod her head in agreement and say…“indeed!”
It was in Lubbock that this fiercely talented singer-songwriter began her musical journey. Beth’s family demonstrated extreme patience as they supported her classical studies in piano, violin, harp, and voice. With grandiose dreams of becoming a musician, a baker, or a cowgirl, Beth left west Texas to study voice and piano at Brevard College in North Carolina. She then moved on to another musically-blessed town, Austin, where she earned her degree in literature and picked up her first guitar. Living in Austin awakened Beth’s creativity, and it was there that she began writing songs and performing them in clubs and coffeehouses.
Inspired by an electric moment at a Rickie Lee Jones concert, Beth threw caution and her day-job to the wind to become a full-time musician. Thirteen years, thousands of shows, seven albums, three cars, and numerous awards later, she has never looked back. Beth’s exceptional musicianship, crafty songwriting, and warm stage presence have been winning over audiences from coast to coast. “It’s really hard to not fall in love with Beth and her music,” writes one Texas music journalist. Thanks to a healthy obsession with words, an ability to drive long distances without stopping, an innate musical sense, and keen observational skills, Beth finds herself perfectly suited for the job of modern-day troubadour. This job has brought Beth many diverse opportunities beyond stage performance. She has taught creativity workshops to students young and old, read her poetry, contributed to a literary journal, provided music for weddings, and done extensive vocal studio work. Beth also loves combining her love of sports and classical singing to perform our National Anthem for teams such as the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Fort Worth Cats, and many others.
In February of 2008, Beth released her seventh independent CD, BEACHCOMBER'S DAUGHTER aboard Cayamo, a seven-day Caribbean songwriters’ cruise featuring Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, and many more. Beth collaborates with some of Dallas’s finest studio musicians on her self-produced BEACHCOMBER'S DAUGHTER, a mature work that elegantly captures Beth’s soulful and versatile voice, her thoughtful and thought-provoking songwriting, her knack for arrangement and song interpretation, and her musical versatility.
If you ask Beth to describe her music, she might just shrug. Some have called it folk, pop, folk-pop, country-folk, Americana, etc. Beth prefers to say it is soulful, organic, free-range, barefoot music delivered through a high energy communicator of joy. So, call it what you will, but listen with mind and heart wide open, and you may just find yourself transformed.
Beth lives with her husband and their good puppy dog in Eugene, OR. When Beth is not writing and touring around the country playing clubs, festivals, and house concerts, she still occasionally finds the time to bake and ride horses.
