November 12, 2016

Meet Musician, Producer, Songwriter, and Creative: Woody Earwood

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Woody Earwood.

Woody, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was 4 years old, living in Jonesboro, GA when my grandmother handed me my first guitar. It was red, had flames on the front, and it cost all of .25 cents at a yard sale. I instantly fell in love with guitar, and I have never went a day in my life without touching one, since.

I could feel the musical bones in my body and had a natural ear for music growing up and to this day I cannot read music, and iv never had a music lesson. I became extremely passionate about the act of taking something from your brain, and then putting it in your CD player and listening to it over and over again and making money with it. So off I went, into the deep end.

Being raised very Christian, my family had certain preferences on rules and what we were allowed to do, and especially listen too. Sheltered to say the least. I was limited to Christian/gospel music only, which although there is nothing wrong with that at the time, I just felt like I had a lot more to offer and I wanted to express the inflections of my inspiration through this art.

By the time I was 12 I was able to proficiently play 5 instruments, owned my own home recording studio, and had 2 full lengths, gospel albums that I had produced under my belt. My family had moved to South Dakota at this point for the ministry and had left everything behind, except my beloved guitar and a head full of mystery about this music I could come up with.

Time moved on and I kept myself locked in my basement, only emerging to the surface after I had a new song, or a new beat on a CD, eager to play it for everyone in the house. Little did I know, that I was preparing myself for something so much bigger.

Fast forward and I’m a 20-year-old married man, working a full-time job and spending every free minute I had recording, and writing songs. I was so oblivious to how the entertainment side of music happened, I had never even seen a concert or live show at this point. I knew good music when I heard it, but I didn’t know what it was supposed to sound like in person, much less look like.

I started working at a local music store in Rapid City, to try to get more involved in the local music scene. I soaked up every bit of knowledge I could get about live entertainment, music, and gear and it was like snapping missing puzzle pieces right into place. So much so that I remember the day that it all just, “Clicked”. And the day after that my name went from Daniel to Woody, and I was dead set on being a Folk artist.

I found myself playing live every chance I could get just for another experience in front of listening ears. I was amazed that even though I was raised very religious only listening to Christian music, that all of these strangers could listen to my lyrics and still understand what I was trying to convey. and It’s always been a huge battle of mine to talk to strangers, so I learned that music was a universal language in the world, on my own.

Has it been a smooth road?
I wound up going through some rather hard times and went through a divorce. I ended up homeless for 8 months living in my office space/studio, and that’s where I wrote and recorded my acoustic folk album “Stories” (on iTunes & Spotify). my family moved back to Emerson, GA and I was still new to Rapid City, but This freeing, yet undesirable experience of being homeless allowed me to explore myself and my own thoughts like never before. And I have been shaping, writing, and perfecting my craft religiously ever since then with a totally new perspective on life and music.

Today, I live in Cartersville, GA and the dream of being a full-time musician/creative is so close that I can taste it. My music has shifted from an acoustic-folk sound to more of a singer-songwriter/rock sound. However, I do not limit myself to a certain genre, and in the end, I make the music that I want and love, and hope that everyone can feel, and relate to it on some level. I am in the process of writing and doing the pre-production for my new album, and hope to have it released by early 2017.

Has there been people or an institution that has played a pivotal role in your career?
The most important person that has helped my career is Daniel Lieving, we met shortly after I moved to Ga in 2015, and has shown me some important steps to songwriting, and stage presence.

What kind of work do you look forward to most?
I am currently working on my solo record, I am also working with a few local artists as well such as Kayla Rowland, Ansley Fain, and Kevin Dunbar. I am currently in the middle of writing, and producing demos for all of these artists, and trying to help them achieve their goals in the music industry as well.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could push a restart button, I would be more mindful of what I have posted to social media/youtube in my early years. Releasing music or media that is not perfected, and is not “right” can be more harmful that releasing anything at all.

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