Beth Wood sometimes plays music in her sleep. That’s how engrained it is. From the moment when a curious five-year-old girl asked her mom if she could take piano lessons to the moment when the grown woman opens her mouth, her heart, her eyes and her hands to sing her song for a live audience, music has been the constant, the silk thread that never breaks. She is a modern-day troubadour poet and believer in the power of song. For twenty-two years she has been writing, creating and touring full-time, delighting and inspiring audiences with her exceptional musicianship, intelligent songwriting, powerhouse voice, and warm and commanding stage presence.

In 2018, Beth and Ara Lee James formed the duo project Stand and Sway. As a duo, Wood and James push the boundaries of soul and folk music and attempt to break down the walls that have separated the worlds of music and poetry. Wood and James Stand and Sway. The two also sit down and cry when it’s tough, laugh when it’s useless, and sing really, really loud often. They write, speak, tour, and teach poetry and singing workshops to inspire those disempowered to find their voices, because they agree that women singing unapologetically together can rattle glass ceilings. Their upcoming album Deep Blue, set to be released in the Summer of 2019, takes soul, folk, spoken word, Americana, gospel, and blues, shakes them around in a basket of harmony, and makes what they affectionately call “grown-out-roots-music.”