(thank you Will Byington for the awesome Cayamo photos!)
Greetings, friends and fellow music lovers!
February, though short and sweet, was packed full of insanely awesome moments. I’m still floating high on cloud 9 from our amazing experience on Cayamo, the world’s sweetest floating music festival. I’m back home on land now and the ground has finally stopped swaying! Here’s what’s coming up this month…
3/23 Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA
3/24 Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA
3/25 Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA
3/26 Songsmith Series – Brevard, NC
3/31 Creekhouse Concerts – St Paul, MN
4/1 – 4/9 Midwest tour in IA, NE, KS – scroll down for details!
1. GRATITUDE… There are so many people who made February amazing!! Special thanks to Larry & Karen Murante, Craig Lund and Seattle Folklore Society, Sherrie Wolf & Peter Lovely, Anne Weiss, Avery Hill, Jeff & Ann Wolf and friends, Matt and Andy and all of the Sixthman/Cayamo team, Ara Lee & Erin & Ocea for being the greatest cruise team EVAH, Becky and Tom Abel and friends, and all the students and instructors and staff who made Sisters Folk Festival American Song Academy for youth SOOO magical!
2. CALL TO ACTION…Hey I’ve got a favor to ask you. Do you listen to music on Spotify?? (and I’m guessing you do cuz pretty much the whole world does now!) If so, will you please go to my artist page and hit the “follow” button? I am learning about Spotify and what an amazing tool it is for discovering new music. For whatever reason, 250 is the magic number of followers I need to have in order to become a verified artist so I can create and post playlists. SO the good news is that I’m super close with 163 followers (thank you guys!), so I only need a few more. Thank you!
And secondly, I have Friday, May 19 and Sunday, May 21st open in Texas, so I wanted to throw some feelers out there and see if y’all have any ideas or interest for a house concert. There is even the possibility that I will have a special guest sitting in with me that week, but that is still TBA… 🙂 I’ll need to be in Richardson at the Wildflower Festival on Saturday morning, so I would need to be within a couple hundred miles of the Dallas/Ft Worth area on Friday night. Holler at me at bethwoodmusic@hotmail.com if you have ideas!
3. THE NEWS… My 20/20 project is going strong! Thank you to all of you who have signed up, and it’s not too late to sign up if you haven’t already! 2017 marks my 20th year as a full time musician, and I am celebrating all year long with new works! I am releasing 20 new things (songs or poems or videos) in 2017, and I’d love to share them with you. I’m calling this project 20/20, and it’s sort of like my Song of the Month club that I did a few years ago, but with even more songs! If you would like to sign up for 20/20 and get access to all the new works I will release this year, you can do that on my website store page. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I want to leave it up to you to decide what you’d like to pay for this project. I had thought of asking $20, but I want to be inclusive. So when you check out, just click on the Paypal button and you can write in the amount. Any amount is great! No judgment, just gratitude! Then once you’ve signed up, I will send you the new works throughout the year (separate from my newsy newsletter). Let’s do this! 
I am super excited to do another spring tour with my good friend David Stoddard! I trust Dave implicitly as a musician and friend, and I have so much fun when we tour together! I’m anticipating an uncontrollable giggle-fest or two. 🙂 Starting on March 31, we will be playing in MN, IA, NE, and KS. If you are anywhere near those places, I hope you will come see us! Details are below…
I don’t even have words for how amazing Cayamo was!!?!? My friend the amazingly soulful and talented Ara Lee joined me for my three sets, and for me it was simply transcendant. We played in a small, intimate club venue with crystal clear sound on the first full day. Then the next evening we played outdoors on a sport court overlooking the sunset over the ocean. And on the last full day of the cruise, we played at the large seated listening room to a wonderful crowd. The amazing and gracious Lori McKenna sang with us on “Easy On Me” and I felt like I was floating listnening to hear beautiful voice and Ara’s blend into a 3-part harmony so delicious I can still taste it!! Another highlight was when lots of folks joined us at the end for our finale of our song “Nasty Women”!! Check it out, y’all!!

As a fan, my musical highlights were many, but I have to say Richard Thompson’s solo and band sets blew my mind!! And I also really loved Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, Glen Phillips and his band, Sarah Jaroz, and Aoife O’Donovan, and I could go on and on and on!! Another favorite memory was an impromptu late night poetry/hot toddy party with our friends Emma and Bevin…swoon! My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the experience and I still can’t believe it happened! I gotta warn ya there are so many fun pics I’m gonna overload you!!
4. TOUR DATES…Life is so uncertain, please call ahead
Thu, March 23 – Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA. HOME BY DARK is a songwriters in the round concert event unlike anything you’ve seen or heard featuring the best performing songwriters in America accompanied by the best instrumentalists on the planet ! Home By Dark believes a song can change your life! BW and Jesse Terry are the featured songwriters for three evenings at the Roswell Historic Cottage. Tickets available here: https://squareup.com/store/home-by-dark/. Doors at 6:30, music at 8.
Fri, March 24 – – Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA. Same as above!
Sat, March 25 – – Home By Dark at Roswell Historic Cottage – Roswell, GA. Same as above!
Sun, March 26 – Songsmith Series – Brevard, NC. 36 E Main St. Mountainsong Productions presents Songsmith Series – An evening of song and story with Chris Rosser, Sarah Siskind, and BW!! At the DFR Room at Ecusta Brewing. More info and tickets at www.mountainsongproductions.com. 7:30 pm.
Fri, March 31 – Creekhouse Concerts – St Paul, MN. Overlooking the beautiful Rice Creek in northwest St. Paul, is Creek House, the newest best kept secret in town. Creek House is part art gallery and part sonically wonderful listening room. The musical mission at Creek House is to present the audience with the best in local and national artists playing folk, blues, roots, classical and jazz as well as storytellers, poets, and authors. BW will share the stage with the great David Stoddard! For reservations, please call or e-mail at phone: 651.633.5353 or glenn at elvig.com. We will send confirmation with address and directions. $20 suggested donation. 7 pm.
Sat, April 1 – The Anchor Coffeehouse Concert Series – Des Moines, IA.4114 Allison Ave, Corner of Beaver & Franklin, located in Westminster Presbyterain Church. The Anchor coffee house is a listening room patronized by people who love live acoustic music. We offer a variety of flavored coffees & teas and an assortment of desserts to enjoy during the show. Tickets are available at the door, or at Uptempo Music, 2714 Beaver Ave, 515.277.0145, or by stopping in or calling the church office, 515.274.1534. We can take credit card orders over the phone & either mail your tickets or you can pick them up at the door. Free child care is available at each show. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door. Doors at 6:30, music at 7.
Sun, April 2 – The Folk Tree on Iowa Public Radio – Cedar Falls, IA. KUNI studio is located at University of Northern Iowa, 322 Communication Arts Center. Host Karen Impola features music that is rooted in tradition, but spreads out in a variety of modern directions, including blues and bluegrass; singer-songwriters new and old; rockers getting back to their acoustic roots; plus excursions into Celtic and world music. The show also features exclusive recordings made at venues throughout the IPR listening area, and occasionally, live musical guests in IPR’s very own studios. BW will play with the great David Stoddard! Taped live with a studio audience so come on by! 2 pm. FREE – it’s radio! Listen online here!
Mon, April 3 – The LilFest House Concert – Mt Vernon/Lisbon, IA.Please call Nancy in advance at 518-576-9513 to hold seats and to be given the address of the concert.(Knowing what you are bringing to the pot luck, if you chose to do it, also helps with planning the treats.) With the great David Stoddard! Suggested contribution: $12. 5:30 pm gathering for optional BYOB and shared goodies; 6:30 music.
Thu, April 6 – House Concert at Temptelton Acreage – Roca, NE. Admission $15 – all proceeds go to the artists. Light refreshments will be served. Please call 402-421-7678 for reservations and info. With the great David Stoddard! 6:30 pm doors, 7 pm music.
Fri, April 7 – The Old Glory Theatre – Seward, NE. Goehner Centennial Players Present: BW and David Stoddard! Call Lloyd Schulz for tickets at 402-523-5025 or 402-641-5525. $10. 7 pm.
Sat, April 8 – Green Guitar Folk House – Lenexa, KS. The Green Guitar is a music series featuring nationally touring singer-songwriters. The music styles include folk, Americana, country, roots, bluegrass, and international roots music. Main stage performers are professional musicians who tour nationally and internationally. Green Guitar Folk House events are held in the sanctuary of the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. The venue is sponsored by SMUUCH, but is not a church event. The series is open to the public. BW will share the stage with the great David Stoddard! Make a reservation by email at mike@greenguitarfolk.com or call 913.304.4816, all tickets are paid for at the door. $15 with a reservation, or $17 without; Students $3.00; kids through 8th grade Free. 7 pm.
Action shot! Ohmygosh Larry Murante and I had so much fun playing at the Seattle Folkore Society!

And our backstage came with dragons! The concert was at a community center and our green room was a Montessori school classroom…

This is Tucker. He runs sound at Wolf Howl House Concerts. (he looks very strict, but he’s really a sweetheart once you get to know him, ha!!)

aaaaand…this was the scene when we walked onto the ship our first day of Cayamo!! Brandi Carlisle and her band on the deck stage rocking us out! (Photo by Will Byington)

Our first show was so lovely and intimate…they even let me read poetry! (photo by Will Byington)

Here we are singing our hearts out as the sun sets into the ocean…truly one of the most beautiful nights of my life. And yes, that is a net behind us..sport court!!

This woman inspires me so much. The great Ara Lee singing “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”….

With my BFF and tour manager in Cozymel!! She is permanently hired!

At our Spinnaker lounge show ticklying some ivories..Thank you Lisa Costantino for the lovely pics!

Glen Phillips and Amber Rubarth are funny!! Especially when you invite them on stage to sing a song they’ve never heard before! (they killed it!)

We invited our towel friends “Buddy” and “Miller” to sit in with us on our last set. (um, yep. we may have been loopy from sleep deprivation…)

Post-show triumph! I love this woman…

last day silliness with our new friend Bevin from Trout Steak Revival…

My crew!! These ladies made it the most fun week of my entire life. THANK YOU Ocea, Ara, and Erin!!

and we had the best time at Among Friends house concert in Lakeland the night after the cruise ended. I somehow managed so sing through an entire evening even though the ground was moving…

i am SO STOKED for this show… love this beautiful poster!

5. THE FUTURE…well this spring is shaping up so nicely. I am excited for nice balance of a little time at home and some amazing shows in OR, TX, and Hawaii!! I’m looking at opportunities in Colorado, Utah, and Montana this summer (cuz you know I gotta get my fishing in.) 🙂 And I have a feeling there just might be more shows with Ara Lee…
THANK YOU for being a part of my musical journey, for reading my silly ramblings, for spreading the word and coming to shows, for supporting the release of my new works, and for showing up for me time and time again. And as always, I love hearing from you! With boatloads of respect and gratitude,
Beth Wood
World Headquarters: PO Box 10141, Portland, OR 97296
www.bethwoodmusic.com
Holler at me: bethwoodmusic [AT] hotmail.com
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