Chris Wood (ENG)

Chris Wood

In a world of soundbites and distractions Chris Wood is a truth seeker. His writing is permeated with love and wry intelligence, uplifting and challenging as he celebrates the sheer one-thing-after-anotherness of life. Tom Robinson and Chris Difford are fans while Stick In The Wheel and The Unthanks look to him as an influence. Winner of 6 BBC Folk Awards, he’s played with The Royal Shakespeare Company and was a key member of The Imagined Village along with Billy Bragg and Martin Carthy. A wise and soulful craftsman, his concerts are a cliche free zone.

Self-taught on guitar and violin, he is a lifelong autodidact — and his independent streak shines through in his composition and studio work. Always direct and unafraid to speak his mind, his song writing has been praised for its surgical clarity. His work is typified by his trust in the space music can create and a gift for lyrical understatement. He cites his major influence as ‘Anon’.

‘Chris Wood might be the Ken Loach of songwriting. Very political, but at the same time full of compassion, and he grows sharper and more acute with each passing album. He’s good, quite probably the very best we have today, and we need him more than ever.’ - FROOTS MAGAZINE

‘As close as it gets to a perfect union of voice and guitar, lyrics and melody, compassion, irony, realism, wit, and humanity.’ - THE HERALD ***** 5 Stars

‘Nobody comes even close to equalling his bird’s-eye-view.’ - THE IRISH TIMES ***** 5 Stars

‘a rarefied talent, both as writer and interpreter.’ - MOJO **** 4 Stars