Greetings, friends and fellow music lovers!
The days are short and precious, and we are turning toward the end of this year. What a year it has been! Here is what’s going on around here…
Fri, Dec 14 – Eugene Calders Songwriters Holiday Concert and Benefit for Egan Warming Center – Eugene, OR
Sat, Dec 15 – Artichoke Music Holiday Concert and Sock Drive for Transition Projects – Portland, OR
BIG NEWS…New album, duo project, December benefit concerts, and I am now offering one-on-one lessons/coaching in Portland and beyond! Scroll down for details!
1. GRATITUDE…Um, wow. I look at the November calendar and can’t believe all the delicious stuff that happened! Big thanks to all of these folks for making it possible: Paul & Fran and friends, Ray Lewis and Jacksonville peeps, Misti OP and family and Five Elements School of Acupuncture, Todd & Kiaralinda and all at SHAMC, Ara James, Milo Fultz, Paul Brainard, Steven Skolnik, Bre Gregg and all who came to support our CD release at Alberta Street Pub, Eric Alan, Tom Titus, Halie Loren, Gentle Thunder, Scott Lanfield and all who came to the Gratitude Event and CD release at Tsunami Books, Tim and all at Anderson Fair, Tom Faulkner, Pat and Gary and everyone involed in Alapalooza at the Epic, Betsy and all at Medical Center Lewisville Black Box Theater, Ted Vahovius, Jeff and Judy and all at the Old Firehouse, and Phillip, Malachi and Grendel at Ear Trumpet Labs!
2. THE NEWS…
Well, the biggest news is the official release of my new album THE LONG ROAD! After a year of waiting and preparing, it is finally free to fly! I could not have done it without my amazing Kickstarter supporters and my team of creative mischief-makers – chief among them Tyler Fortier, Matt Greco and The Rye Room studio. I’m so excited to share this music with you!

If you are someone who listens to CDs, bless your heart! You can order one here and I’ll send it to you!
If you are someone who uses Spotify, you can listen here. And please follow me if you haven’t already!? (Keep in mind that while Spotify is awesome it only compensates artists fractions of a penny for streams, so you can pay it forward in a very meaningful way by following and sharing!)
If you are someone who likes to download albums, thank you! You can find it here on Amazon and iTunes.
Special thanks to The Press House and The 2Jeffs for helping with the launch! We have had several premieres and reviews and I’m grateful for every little bit that helps get the word out. Here are a couple of my favorites…
Dallas Observer story/interview
Folking.com reviw
Other big news is that while I hold space for the new album to grow and expand, I am excited to shift my attention to the duo project that Ara James and I started called Stand and Sway! We recorded an album this summer and we are planning to release it in the spring. We will be playing regional shows and festivals, and we are in the process of developing workshops we can offer together. Something truly magical happens when we co-create, and I can’t wait to share that magic with you and the world!
I am so excited to share that as of Dec 1, I will have a studio space in Portland where I can offer lessons, work, write, and dream while staring out the window at Mt Tabor! Ara and I were so excited to meet Sarah Collins at Mt Tabor Music School to talk workshop possibilties, and it turns out that she had a space open at the school that needed someone to fill it with music and creativity and conversation. Starting this month I will begin offering lessons and song coaching sessions! If you are in Portland and have interest in exploring guitar, voice, performance, songwriting, and/or music making, please reach out to me at bethwoodmusic@Hotmail.com. And if you are not in Portand and you have interest, I am open to doing Skype lessons, and I find it to be quite fun and enjoyable!
And finally I am thrilled to be a part of two very special holiday concerts/fundraisers. Many years ago, the Eugene Caldera Songwriters started our annual holiday concert at Tsunami Books to celebrate the season and raise money and warm things for Egan Warming Center. This event means so much to me for so many reasons, and I hope you will join us on December 14 for an evening of fun, music, community, yummy treats, and giving back! Egan Warming Centers provide crucial and necessary shelter to all when the temperature drops below freezing in Eugene/Springfield. The dedicated volunteers and staff work so hard and we are so honored to lend our voices to this event. Scroll down to the tour dates section for show details…Here’s the beautiful flyer created by Laura Golden!

In my new hometown of Portland, I’m thrilled to host the Artichoke Music holiday concert and sock drive on December 15! We will celebrate in song and community to support Artichoke Music’s non-profit mission and we will be collecting warm socks for Transition Projects, a Portland organization and leader in transitioning people from homelessness and living on the streets into housing. Details below and here is our beautiful flyer created by Alexa McDonald!

3. TOUR DATES…Life is so uncertain, please call ahead!
Fri, Dec 14 – Eugene Calders Songwriters Holiday Concert and Benefit for Egan Warming Center – Eugene, OR. 2585 S Willamette St. 541-345-8986. Hosted as a love offering to the community by Tsunami Books. Eugene Caldera Songwriters is an informal gathering of songwriters who met and have connections to the Sisters Americana Song Academy, held at Caldera. Each December we gather to celebrate, sing a few songs, eat too many cookies, and come together as a community to raise funds and warm things for the Egan Warming Center, a program of St Vincent de Paul. A requested donation of $5-$20 all goes directly to Egan Warming Center. No one turned away for lack of funds. Donations of clean warm clothing and toiletries gladly accepted. Performers include BW, Laura Golden, Kathy Marshall, Cross Current, Anna Tivel, Jeffrey Martin, Still Thinking, John Shipe, Paul Neville, Annie Heron, Stacy Henley, Grisha Stewart, Barbara Turrill, Katie Sontag, Dave Taylor, Julia O’Reilly. 7:30 pm.
Sat, Dec 15 – Artichoke Music Holiday Concert and Sock Drive for Transition Projects – Portland, OR. 503-232-8845. 2007 SE Powell Blvd. Join us for this holiday concert and fundraiser/benefit! We will be raising money for non-profit Artichoke Music and a sock drive for Portland’s Transition Projects, a leader in transitioning people from homelessness and living on the streets into housing. Featuring Beth Wood, Megan Cronin & Chris Baron, Ed Haynes, David Gross, Halelupe, Gary Furlow and Alexa MacDonald. Please bring one pair of warm winter socks to be distributed through the good works of Transition Projects. In this turbulent time, we will celebrate community, peace, and healing. Come celebrate with us! $15. 8 pm.
RANDOM TRAVEL PICS…
Ohmygosh, the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center is so whimsically wonderful I can barely manage to put it into words! This pic only captures a tiny piece of all the fun!

I was so excited to see Sandhill Cranes on my morning run in Sarasota..woop!

The whole crew at my CD release party who played their hearts out and made it one of the most fun nights in the history of ever! Thank you Ara James, Bre Gregg, Milo Fultz, Jeffrey Martin, Steven Skolnik and Paul Brainard…you rock!

Right after the wonderful, heart-filling gratitude event in Eugene, we realized we were all color cooridnated. 🙂 It was SO incredibly fun to sing and play with Halie Loren (left) and to hear the moving poetry of Jorah LeFleur!

Here’s me and Tom Faulkner yuckin it up before our Anderson Fair show in Houston…what a blast!

Here’s most of the whole musician crew at Alapalooza in Grand Prairie! It was wonderful to celebrate the life and legacy of Al Johnson and to help raise money for a scholarship in his name!

Al’s wife Pat Johnson came in right as Tom and I were singing a Beatles song and she sang right along!

Um….whaaaaaaaat? The city of Lewisville rawks!

Here we are yucking it up again and the MCL Grand Black Box Theater! (Thank you Ira Hanz for the great photos!)

I love the beautiful stage at The Old Firehouse in Edom!

And this is their house keyboard player. He is super solid. I named him Spot On because his chops are so good.

And how I forget to share this photo of sweet Tucker in Gainesville, FL? You can’t tell from this pic but he weighs about 90 pounds of solid muscle and he is tbe biggest softie I’ve ever met!

this is Dakota Jackson rolling his eyes at me and Tucker.

And this is sweet Yoda who lives in Edom! You won’t believe how cute and enormous his ears are but he was too shy to show you.

(and thanks to Gary Gibson for the photo up top)
And finally, if you are in Portland and need a dog sitter or dog walker, holler at me. 🙂 bethwoodmusic@hotmail.com. Ya never know, your four-legged friend could make it into my newsletter!
4. THE FUTURE…Ahhhh it feels good to rest my feet for a while. What an amazing year this has been. I am so grateful for this life, and for all of the folks who support my creative path and make this possible for me to live my dreams. I am excited to rest and renew in the coming weeks and to envison what I want the soon-to-be-unfolding year to look like. It feels like things are shifting and growing in the most positive and exciting way. THANK YOU for being a part of my team and for cheering me on! May you have a peaceful holiday and may we all be easy on ourselves and each other. With much gratitude from your fan,
Beth Wood
PO Box 10141
Portland, OR 97296
www.bethwoodmusic.com
Holler at me: bethwoodmusic [AT] hotmail.com
Here I am with my face on Facebook.
I barely know how to use it but I’m tryin’ on Twitter
Find me on Instagram! @bethwoodmusic.com
For the love of Pete, somebody please help me with Youtube!

Down the road a piece…
Jan 17 – Black Rock Center for the Arts – Germantown, MD
Jan 18 – 49 West w/Marc Douglas Berardo – Annapolis, MD
Jan 19 – Muddy Creek Cafe & Music Hall w/Sarah Siskind – Winston-Salem, NC
Jan 20 – Isis Music Hall w/Sarah Siskind – Asheville, NC
Jan 25 – Red Clay Music Foundry w/Sarah Siskind – Duluth, GA
Feb 2 – Stand and Sway (BW & Ara James) – Doverlaff House Concerts – Portland, OR
Mar 2 – Stand and Sway (Bw & Ara James) – Chicken Barn Concerts – Whidbey Island, WA
Mar 3 – Stand and Sway (BW & Ara James) w/The Aurora Chorus – Portland, OR
Mar 9 – Stand and Sway (BW & Ara James) House Concert – Medford, OR
Mar 15 – Old Kitchen Rug Brewery House Concert w/David Stoddard – St. Louis Park, MN
Mar 16 – House Concert w/David Stoddard – Waconia, MN
Mar 18 – Harmony for Mayo in Lips Atrium – Rochester, MN
Mar 22 – House Concert w/Edie Carey – Colorado Springs, CO
Mar 23 – Swallow Hill w/Edie Carey – Denver, CO
Mar 30 – Stand and Sway @ Peninsula Arts Center – Long Beach, WA |