Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
“Twang's newest sweetheart.”
- R.S. Field, Nashville producer
“If there’s any justice in this world, this demo will earn her a major label deal.”
- Dan Macintosh
With Daisies In My Hand, Mary Alice Wood, a Missouri-based singer-songwriter, mixes the best parts of rock 'n' roll and country, loads it with tough but tender songs that focus on matters of the heart and delivers a highly memorable and deep-cutting album. - Jedd Beaudoin
Mary Alice proves herself a strong songwriter, with much of her material being drawn from her own autobiographical experiences. Stylistically, she's in the same alt-country vein as Lucinda Williams and Kasey Chambers, but she possesses enough versatility and strength to make her own statements and carve out her own identity. - staff writer
Wood is someone whom fans of either Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edwards should definitely seek out. With a bit of both added to her own unique talent, such songs as Crazy for you and Can’t you see set this fabulous album on the right path. And when she opts for the slower country songs like the title track and the ‘50s style of Souvenir, the result is flawless.
Mixing folk, country and a touch of rock, Wood has just as much fun offering up the rowdy country honky-tonk of Mornin’ Girl as she does on the reflective and weary Angel. Only on Cowboy in a Curl, country-tinged surf-guitar instrumental, does Wood take a singing break from the solid album.
While there are many highlights, the roots-like Divorce Myself is one of the brightest moments. And the singer never presents any filler, with Two Feet being a tad more pop oriented. - Jason McNeil
You never know when you’re going to turn a corner in this town and find something wonderful. I was shopping at Nashville Wine & Spirits when the clerk asked me if I would review his wife’s CD. When I said, “Sure,” he produced one from his satchel. He explained that they’re new to Nashville, and that lad to a discussion about their hometown of St. Louis, where I often go to visit my sister. To make a long story short, I think Mary Alice Wood has extraordinary promise. Once she hooks up with the picker in this town and a real producer, she’s going to turn in a monster album. As it is, her homemade disc is a total charmer. And that’s what gets you a “DisCovery Award” in this column.
Mary Alice Wood/Daisies in my hand
This chick is seriously depressed. And it sound really cool –because the lyric is so positive and the dirge-like delivery is so negative. She has recently moved here from St. Louis, so she’s still fairly unknown. With a sound this super, that won’t be the case for long. Find this and fall in love.
Robert Oermann, Music Row Magazine (4/04)
- Music Row Magazine
With a sweet loneliness and a tasty twang, Mary Alice Wood’s second set Daisies In My Hand sophisticates simplicity. Wood’s tame rockers and tamer ballads are pained, precious and plain: sing along country music soaking with a mournful sensitivity. There’s nothing fancy here: softened guitars, a playful rhythm section and the occasional fiddle or mandolin flutter below Wood’s cowgirl croon. She tells of lost lovers, current lovers, future lovers and everything in between-a frustration culminating in the harmonied, rolling chorus "I will divorce myself from this problem," on the showstopper "Divorce Myself." The St. Louis songsmith sounds best when bare, as the regretful "Every Line," the isolated "If I Told You," and the hopeless title track all strip down to a gripping hush. Daisies In My Hand is as
heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, sorrowful and downtrodden songs that still soothe and delight, like, say, a finger-full of flowers.
-BENJAMIN FRIEDLAND, HARP magazine 4/04
- CD review
Discography
Mary Alice Wood (self-titled) released 1993/re-released in 2001
"daisies in my hand" released 2003
Airplay:
“Americana Café”, WOKI 100.3, Knoxville, TN
WDVX, 89.9, Eastern Tennessee
“Freight Train Boogie-Live365” KRCB, Santa Rose, CA
KWMU 90.7FM, St. Louis, MO
“Songwriter’s Showcase” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Back Country”, KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Fishing with Dynamite” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Bob’s Scratchy Records” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Blue Highways” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Dangerous Curves” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“From Memphis to Manchester”
“Country Function, Bluegrass Junction” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Suffragette City” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Steve Pick’s Morning Show” KDHX, St. Louis, MO
“Mojo Dreams” Radio Sinaai 105.5, Belgium
“Radio Golden Flash” 104.3, Belgium
“La Otra Musica” 80FM, Cadiz, Spain
“PeelGrass” 90.2FM, the Netherlands
“La Diligencia” Ona Musica, Catalonia, Spain
“Roots Revival” RADIO ATL Bree, Belgium
“Blueprints” Radio Parkstad, Holland
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Nashville based Mary Alice Wood mixes the subtle lyric influence of Lucinda Williams with the raw rock energy of ala Bruce Springsteen. She blends honky-tonk, bluegrass, pop, rock and folk to seamlessly form a new one - her own. Soaring vocals, dynamic stage presence and hooky songs continuously win over audiences. This girl rocks harder with an acoustic guitar than most with electrics.
Her latest is release, "daisies in my hand." "12 different stories about my life," says Wood. The tone of her songwriting on "daisies" is simultaneously reflective, confessional and melancholy, yet hopeful and passionate. The music on the record is at once melodic, striking and diverse.
A prominant player on the album is Bottle Rocket guitarist and fellow St. Louisan John Horton - whose recording credits include Jay Farrar and Mike Ireland and Holler. Wood ran out of good local players when John was invited to join the Bottle Rockets – so she left town.
With a strong belief in her new album and a suitcase full of persistence, Wood packed up and moved to Nashville in Sept. 2003. But let's take a step back.
Growing up in St. Louis' southside offered Wood a steady dose of blue collar life - of heartbreak, love, the continuous hope of something more, the mononity of everyday life. Her songs reflect this melange of life between the lines. Add to that - her family. "I don’t remember a moment in our house when music wasn't being played - either on the radio, record player or the piano. My sisters and I sang 3-part harmony while we washed dishes to keep from fighting!" Wood says.
"I write autobiographical songs about my life," says Wood. They aren't fancy or long - just simple stories about everyday life. Moments that tend to slip between the cracks. Things that you may or may not want to know are down there."
Images extend across the song's surface, as if painted on a canvas, drawing listeners into each setting. It's no surprise that Wood's also a painter and graphic designer. "Songwriting is the same process as painting. Songwriting uses words and melody while painting uses brushstroke and color," she explains.
In '94 and '95, she won the ultra competitive Best Local Songwriter honors from "The Riverfront Times"/St. Louis Area Music Awards, beating out folks like Jay Farrar. The fact that she started writing songs in '92 makes it even more impressive.
In 1998, she put playing out on hold to focus on her design career. "I had a band (sugarstickygirl) and had the opportunity to share the stage for some amazing bands, (Semisonic, Cracker, Iris Dement, Todd Snider and The Bottle Rockets just to name a few). My day job was full of late nights and big responsibilities, and I couldn't do it all." she says.
"After a while, I missed playing out," she says. "I also realized how many songs I never recorded. Something was missing." By 2002 she was ready to return. "I started recording in Feb. and the project was almost complete when in late 2002, she was laid off from her job. It was the opportunity to go after the music career she always wanted.
"Daisies in my hand" is her newest portfolio, and Wood's been working it hard since 2003 - getting rave reviews, radio airplay both nationally and internationally and touring often - be it solo, duet or with a full band - concentrating on the southeast and midwest, and building an ever-increasing grassroots fanbase.
With a Nashville homebase, an always energized Wood works the market with her sales promotion background - talking to and meeting everyone she can who might play even the smallest role in her direction. A tireless self-promoter, she's been busy writing new songs and playing for all who will listen. She's co-writing with some of Americana's best and even taken up the fiddle. For her, it's the best direction she's ever taken.
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