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Greetings, friends and fellow music lovers!
What an amazing ride these past few weeks have been! There is so much to tell you. But before I get to that, here’s what’s going on this month…
Sat, May 4 – Stand and Sway Open Song Workshop at Peninsula Arts Center – Long Beach, WA
Sun, May 5 – Oregon Book Awards Author Tour at Newport Public Library – Newport, OR
Thu, May 16 – Songsmith Song School at Brevard Music Center – Brevard, NC
Fri, May 17 – Songsmith Song School at Brevard Music Center – Brevard, NC
Sat, May 18 – Songsmith Gathering at Brevard Music Center – Brevard, NC
Wed, May 22 – Stand and Sway/BW Birthday Celebration with Scott Cook at Alberta Street Pub – Portland, OR
Sat, May 25 – Stand and Sway House Concert – Sisters, OR
Details about shows are on my website here. Hope to see you there!
1. GRATITUDE. My heart is overflowing with gratitude these days. THANK YOU to all of you who cast your vote for my book online in the Oregon Book Awards People’s Choice Category! Thank you to my Mom and Dad for coming to Portland to celebrate this amazing honor with me! And thank you Bob and Pam and Jamie and Shannon for cheering me on at the awards ceremony! Thank you to all of these fine folks for making April such a smashing success…Cal Scott and Richard Moore and Matt Miner and all at O’Connor’s, to all at HPPR and the Chalice Room, to Phil & Sue and friends, to the Howe family, to Chris and Bekki, Ashley and Nathan and all who gathered in the spirit garden, to Dana and all at the Donkey ranch, Tom and Cindy Faulkner, to Kathy and Steve, Nancy and Joel, Sandi & Rod, Bob and Artichoke Music, Literary Arts, Matt and Sasha and Northwind Arts Center, Meggan and friends, and Mark & Jeanne.
2. THE NEWS. Well I am completely beside myself in awe and delight to tell you that my poetry book “Ladder to the Light” is the 2019 Oregon Book Awards Reader’s Choice Award winner!! WHAAAAT!?! It was such a surreal moment when they called my name that I hardly remember anything after that. It was so special to have my Mom and Dad with me. I feel so grateful every day that I had parents who saw me and who let me be exactly who I am. That sounds so simple but it is only with their encouragement and support that I was able to learn to be my creative, musical, introspective, wordy little ol self. And I am so grateful to Nathan Brown and Ashley Stanberry Brown and Mezcalita Press for giving my poetry a home. I am energized and encouraged and already working on my next book! I will always love poetry and as I told Ara once I will die on that hill! But I’m so very excited to live on it, too. Thank you Literary Arts and all of you who voted. My heart is full. (If you want to get your hands on a copy, come see me at a show or you can buy one now at Powell’s Books!)
In other news, my birthday is coming up on May 22 and I want to celebrate with you and Ara Lee James and Steven Skolnik with a Stand and Sway concert at Albert Street Pub! Our very special guest will be the great Scott Cook – a singer-songwriter and storyteller with great depth and passion and humor and heart. All I want for my birthday is to celebrate with my friends and sing and stomp and dance and listen to this amazing artist. Wanna join us!?? Tickets are $15 at the door. Come early at 6 for doors and celebration and we will crank up the music around 7. I know it’s a Wednesday, but I promise it won’t be a late night (unless you want it to be)!
I can’t believe we are mere days away from the 2nd Songsmith Gathering and Song School in Brevard, NC! Brevard holds such a special place in my heart and I am so delighted to be a part of this festival and songwriting retreat! I can’t wait to nerd out on songwriting for a few days with the great Sarah Siskind and Ara Lee James and a wonderful group of songwriters. And then the festival has such a killer lineup…David Crosby and The Brother Brothers and Suitcase Junket and Erin Rae and Hush Kids and Sarah Siskind and many more. It will be a day to remember!
Also coming up are some wonderful Stand and Sway duo shows in Vashon, Portland, Eugene, Orcas Island, Salem, and more…see our website for the latest updates. We will be leading a workshop called Women Nature and Song at a beautiful farm outside of Eugene on June 22 and 23. And in August I am thrilled to be co-leading a songwriting retreat with the great Clara Baker at Harris Bridge Vineyard August 13-15 and returning to the Harris Bridge Folk Festival right after with Stand and Sway!
Well sometimes things don’t all fall into place, and it looks like we will not be able to do the songwriting retreat in Guanatajuato, Mexico this year after all. But I am so incredibly grateful to Suzan Lundy for having this vision of Songwriters Crossing Borders and for inviting me to be a part of it, and I believe in this vision! Many folks we reached out to expressed interest in doing something next year, so we are setting our sites on that. Thank you to all of you creative and adventurous souls who expressed interest and for dwelling in possibility with us. Stay tuned!
Check out this wonderful new magazine/website called Songbones by multi-talented artist and sister in song Michelle McAfee!! It is a beautiful quarterly magazine and website hub for grassroots singer-songwriters and roots music lovers. Michelle was kind enough to include an expert from my Facepalm: Stories from the Merch Table book. Reading through the first issue I find myself nodding in agreement again and again…this magazine speaks my language. Also Michelle hosts a Songbones podcast and she had me and Ara on as her guests. We had such a fun time giggling and wooping it up and sharing real talk with Michelle. You can listen to our podcast here!
oh man y’all the bluebonnets in Texas greeted me in full force!
This makes me so happy! My cousins Rachel and Stephen created a wheel of BW song requests for my house concert!
What a treat to play the new piano at Chris & Bekki’s house!
And yes, we did a concert at a miniature donkey ranch! They were an excellent audience although they were tough critics, ha!
such a beautiful place!
I always have so much fun singing with my buddy Tom Faulkner.
We had such a lovely time at the spirit garden reading/concert. I had to sing “Coyote Prayer” for my spirit animal!
Mom and Dad photobomb in at the backyard concert in Gruene. Thank you Rob for sharing all the great photos!
Oh. My. Gawd. Somebody pinch me please. I hope I didn’t say any embarassing stuff up there because it was all a blur!
such a fun Stand and Sway house concert in Ranier, WA!
this is Tito the ranch dog and he had much wisdom to share along with smiles and slobber.
can’t believe I get to hang out with the sweetest happiest girl in the world!
3. THE FUTURE…It’s going to be such a wonderful summer full of fun shows and collaborations and even some time for a road trip with Bailey and some writing. I am so excited to be leaning in to this Stand and Sway project. I truly can’t wait to share this work with you and to keep making more! Thank you for walking beside me on this crooked path, and for cheering me on. I am grateful every day to live the life of an artist and to do the work I am called to do. Hope to see you out there soon. With much gratitude from your fan,
Beth Wood
PO Box 10141
Portland, OR 97296
www.bethwoodmusic.com
www.standandsway.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…
June 1 – House Concert – Lowell, OR
June 8 – Stand and Sway @ The Orcas Island Grange – Westsound, WA
June 14 – Stand and Sway @ Vashon Arts Center – Vashon, WA
June 15 – Stand and Sway @ Al’s Den – Portland, OR
June 21 – Stand and Sway @ Tsunami Books – Eugene, OR
June 22-23 – Women Nature and Song Workshop – Veneta, OR
July 20 – Stand and Sway @ Hayloft Barn Concerts – Salem, OR
July 25 – House Concert w/David Stoddard – Fergus Falls, MN
July 26 – House Concert w/David Stoddard – Orntonville, MN
July 27 – Farm to Table Concerts w/David Stoddard – Amery, WI
Aug 2 – Point Richmond Acoustic w/Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan – Point Richmond, CA
Aug 10 – Eurosports Beer Garden – Sisters, OR
Aug 13-16 Harris Bridge Songwriting Retreat w/Clara Baker – Philomath, OR
Aug 16 – Stand and Sway @ Harris Bridge Folk Festial – Philomath, OR
Aug 24 – Home By Dark @ Brooke St Park – Alpharetta, GA
Sep 3-6 – Americana Song Academy – Sisters, OR
Sep 7 & 8 Stand and Sway @ Sisters Folk Festival
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