Seth Wood

Benjamin Franklin yelled into a telephone and discovered a phonograph. Alexander Fleming pulled penicillin from a Petri dish enshrouded in mold. Louis Daguerre spilled a drop of mercury and came out with a photograph. Not to be outdone, Seth Wood stumbled into an old, rusty guitar shop and, years later, came out with a remarkable folk record. Being forced to sing gospel hymns as a child in his parents’ local church, Wood was exposed to a world of music and spirituality at an early age. However it wasn’t until he left his home in Nashville, Tennessee some six years ago that he accidentally reunited with his childhood memories. In 2003, Wood traveled to Europe for a year to chase his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Little did he know, he would return to Nashville having made an irreversible, accidental discovery. “I remember going into this little guitar shop in France one day and finding an old guitar on sale for 80 Euros. I said to myself, ‘You know? What the hell.’ I played it and it was the best I’d felt in a long time. It just made sense,” Wood said. From that moment on, Wood began walking the long road of natural, simple and earnest songwriting. His efforts led him to the humble beginnings of live shows, playing mostly to passersby or quiet coffee shop baristas. “If that time in my life was a poem it would be called ‘Patience,’” said Wood. “It was pretty rough for an entire year. I was sleeping on the floor at my friends’ place, doing odd jobs and feeling hopeless.” But as the law of beautiful accidents would have it, Wood soon broke new ground after coming in contact with producers Paul Mabury and Tom Laune. Under their guidance, Wood began recording his first official EP titled Abraham. “It was nothing that I did; it was a matter of luck and chance. It was a very fortunate accident,” said Wood. “They helped me realize that my songs were good, and that I had talent. Because of that I was able to basically make a record for free, which is really unheard of in Nashville.” Wood gathered some of Nashville’s finest talent to help with the record including Natalie Prass, Brooke Waggoner, Mikky Ekko and Crystal Thomas. The resulting 6-song EP weaves together themes of love, politics, change and redemption. For Wood, Abraham is exactly what he wanted it to be. “Music is an opportunity to change things. It can change views and change minds. Sometimes it can be political, other times it’s done through a love song. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.” With a crowd of over 200 people, Wood officially released Abraham with friend and fellow singer-songwriter Charlie Hardin at the Rutledge music venue on February 16, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee. During the next year, Wood plans to continue perfecting his live performance and promoting his music. “I’m going to work very hard these next 12 months and play as many shows as I can. I’m just going to see what happens. I’m going to go for it with as much as I can.” With a long list of adversities in his past and plenty more ahead, the result is sure to be exciting