Artists:Bill Ward & Beth Wood

Bill Ward

Bill Ward’s got chops!” No doubt about it, everything he plays and sings and writes and produces is so beautiful because it comes out of his lifelong love affair with music. He was born into it. Bill’s mother Marguerite and his two aunts were called the Davis Sisters, a sweet harmony singing trio from the Thirties who recorded for Columbia Records and were quite well known throughout the South, playing for WIOD out of Miami. So when listeners hear Bill’s blues-inflected baritone, his crystal-clear enunciation, his vocal command and his love of soaring harmonies, he’s proud to credit both his genes and his mother’s instruction to sing from the heart.

Bill Ward never set out to defy musical categories. “I just love all kinds of music,” he says, shrugging at the labels that critics and industry-insiders have put on his unique sound, “country, gospel, opera, classical, jazz, blues, you name it. That’s how I grew up.”

Leaving a classical career on French horn in favor of composing and conducting, Bill plays just about every instrument in the orchestra. “I still want to learn violin,” he said on his forty-seventh birthday. He started out at age five on piano and guitar, instruments he still plays at most shows, but expanded to French horn in high school, trumpet in a marching band and later the organ as choir director. All the while, he was writing songs as well. His “Something for the Children,” for example, was selected as the theme song for the March of Dimes in 1978. After college, he began to tour. Bill Ward & Making Waves headlined all over Florida playing dance music with a seven-piece band that featured Stan Kenton’s first trumpet. “We played covers, but my band was so tight. No one was using trombone in those years, and my guys were all so talented that writing arrangements for them was so much fun,” he said, looking back.

A veteran of the hard traveling touring circuit, Bill began composing larger scores. His “David and Goliath,” a musical he co-wrote for performance on the beach, is still well remembered by many a citizen of Panama City. This experience led to commissions for film soundtracks and music production ventures at his studio in Houston, Texas, but as he puts it, “Writing my own lyrics and singing my own songs remains my first love musically.”

1991 saw the release of his first CD,” William is our Name”. In the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of pop radio, the CD still enjoys airplay in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Ireland and The Netherlands. You can hear him on Willie Nelson’s “Outlaw for Peace” show, which airs worldwide on Radio for Peace International.

His most recent CD, “Skyline”, shows a musical maturity unsurpassed among his peers. New York music critic Kirpal Gordon called it, “the real McCoy! And on eleven songs that just don’t quit but build and bridge and return a profound sense of hope born of a willingness to witness the hardest truths about ourselves.” My money says two-to-one they will still be heard, these songs of our common plight and possibility, after the corn-pone fascists, hair-do disasters and masters of the demographic hustle who have taken over Nashville are long gone.”

Hill Country music critic Kathleen Hudson, author of Telling Stories, Writing Songs (UT Press), wrote, “No one has a voice as seductive as Bill Ward, but Skyline is more than just a great singer’s showcase. It’s the blend of voice, hard won lyrics, incredible instrumental skills and masterful arrangements that keep these songs in your head long after the CD stops playing.” Perhaps Austin critic Cathy Franklin said it best in her review, which comments on his forty-year career as a performer. “Unlike most of the acts at South by Southwest, Bill Ward is no overnight, one-hit, MTV flavor-of-the-minute. Let’s put it this way: if music were food, Bill Ward’s songs would be a banquet. Welcome to the feast.”

Source: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=297340103

Beth Wood

Having grown up in Lubbock, Texas, Beth is classically trained in piano, violin, harp and voice. After spending two years studying voice and piano at Brevard College in North Carolina, Beth moved on to The University of Texas, where she picked up a degree in Literature and her first guitar. Teaching herself guitar, she joined a band and became part of the Austin music scene. After a few years of playing around Austin in her band, and then in a duo, Beth kissed her day-job goodbye and returned to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina to pursue music full-time. The natural beauty of her surroundings provided inspiration while the supportive community helped Beth to become a stand-out in the Asheville songwriters' community. Now an established singer/songwriter, she occasionally resides in Arlington, Texas.

Many have referred to Beth as the Complete Package: a thoughtful, creative songwriter and wordsmith, a talented multi-instrument musician, a gifted and well-trained voice, a work ethic learned early in life, and an unassuming charm and humility that defines charisma. Beth has been embraced by both pop and folk critics and fans. Her writing displays a diverse range of influences, but her lyrical and melodic hooks give her songs a real pop element. Beth's five recordings reflect a broad range of her musical and lyrical progression. Beth's first CD, the self-produced Woodwork, introduces her clear and compelling voice and the promise of an emerging artist. The single "Geometry" from Woodwork was featured on FOX television's popular series, "Party of Five." New Blood, her second release, made a much stronger statement, featuring a darker and more complex sound. New Blood charted top 20 at the national AAA radio charts.Late Night Radio features full-band production and was produced by Don McCollister (Indigo Girls, Sister Hazel). Ghostwriter signaled a return to more elemental production and showcases Beth's vocal prowess and her continuing exploration and growth as a songwriter. Beth's fifth release, You Take the Wheel, is a totally unique, solo acoustic project in which asked fans to vote on which songs they would most like to hear in an acoustic setting. This release highlights Beth's solid work as a strong, dynamic solo artist.

Source: http://www.lonestarmusic.com/artists.asp?id=1079#

GENERAL: For booking info, mail orders, and questions in general, please write to:

BETH WOOD MUSIC

PO Box 200452

Arlington, TX 76006

bethwoodmusic@hotmail.com.