Music about finding self

culture@dailylobo.com
@Jyllian_R

The bearded Seth Woods sits barefoot in front of a record collection four shelves high. He closes his eyes and begins to strum his acoustic guitar. By the time the lyrics of “Many Long Ago” escape his lips, he has seemingly forgotten there are people in the room.

For Woods, known onstage as The Whiskey Priest, his music is less about what he has to say to the world than about discovering hidden aspects of himself.

“Making music, for me, is about self-understanding as much as it is about self-expression,” he said. “Music has definitely become about figuring myself out.”

Like many musicians, Woods has trouble fitting his music into a genre, referring to it himself as “acoustic indie-folk.” But this is because Woods said the lyrics always come first.

“Songwriting comes first and foremost, and then from there I can decide how it’s going to sound,” he said.

The Texas-born musician has lived in Albuquerque for two years, though his music has traveled much farther.

“Wave and Cloud” and “Lost Wages,” Woods’ first two albums, were distributed by UK record company Rainboot (label).

Without hype or advertising, Woods and producer Alex Dupree put “Wave and Cloud” on bandcamp.com, a site which connects fans directly to artists, according to the website. The next day, Rainboot (label)’s owner contacted Woods.

“I thought it was a scam, like ‘This doesn’t happen,’” Woods said. “But I started talking to him and he was really genuine.”

Rainboot (label) is home to about 30 musical acts located across the US and the UK, according to the label’s website, rainboot.co.uk.

Woods said his day job as a childcare provider has influenced both his music and how he sees himself. Working with children between the ages of 1 and 3 has made Woods realize the importance of life’s early years, he said.

“Those first few years of life are so vital, and in some ways more important than all the things you’ve decided and chosen and done from high school onward,” he said.

Those first years are where Woods’ memories of music begin — singing songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with his mom.
It was in the seventh grade that Woods first began playing the guitar, but not before he convinced his mom to let him quit playing the piano.

“Both of my parents had guitars,” he said. “They hadn’t played in years, but they taught me what they remembered.”

When Woods was 21, he moved from Houston to Austin and joined a local band known as Sad Accordions, he said. As the band moved from playing the songs Woods wrote to creating songs as a group, he started performing as a solo act on the side.

“We started writing more collaboratively, which was really fun, but then the songs that I would write wouldn’t necessarily have an immediate home,” he said.

Woods left Sad Accordions when he left Austin and hasn’t played a live show since, but tomorrow he will take the stage at Blackbird Buvette. He said he is excited and just a bit nervous.

“I don’t usually get nervous when I play, but I do feel a little — not nervous, but anxious,” he said.

The Whiskey Priest
Blackbird Buvette,
Thursday at 7 p.m.
“whiskeypriest.bandcamp.com.”:http://www.whiskeypriest.bandcamp.com.