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Woody's Bio
The signs were self-evident as far back as his Texas high school, where Woody Moran played snare drum in the marching band, 1st chair clarinet in the orchestra, was awarded a university scholarship for upright bass in the school lab (jazz) band, learned a cappella harmonies singing in church, and played guitar and sang in a five piece rock band? He had the music in him.
However, Woody chose a different path in life and wound up as a business executive in the musical instruments, audio and software industries. This life choice put him in contact, and sometimes in the studio with some of the greatest musicians, engineers and producers on the planet, resulting in numerous mentions of special thanks on albums (including: Yes, Dixie Dregs, Journey, Starr Parodi, T Lavitz) and in one case even a gold record award for studio contributions (David Lee Roth).
Fast forward several decades and Woody Moran is still occasionally entertaining with his acoustic guitar at parties. One such party was held at Tangier in Los Angeles and Woody was featured performing the timely song, People My Age by John Gorka, prior to jazz saxophonist Tom Scott. Woody had some requests at this party to supply CD recordings of his music and producer / musician Calvin Banks (guitarist with Roy Ayers, Big Mountain) encouraged Woody to record at his private studio. Thus, the album Tu-Toned Stranger was initiated.
Woody?s music features a haunting quality to his vocals, a singer-songwriter, acoustic guitar folk-rock style, and great hooks that either have you humming the songs long after the music stops or starting the CD up all over again.
Some notes of special interest from the album Tu-Toned Stranger:
Great collection of musicians on the title song Tu-Toned Stranger, Jamez from Philly (Escovedo Band) gets to cut loose on bass, Nashville?s Barry Ledere (Brooks and Dunn) adds a nice touch on organ and piano, Koorosh Daryaie contributes drums and percussion, and fantastic inter-weaving solos from Sean Erickson on electric guitar and John Bastianelli on sax. These are also the primary musicians on the project.
Six-time Grammy nominated pianist, T Lavitz, gives A Little Patience a touch of his magic. Grammy award-winning producer and musician, Jeff Bova, gave Witness a wonderful string arrangement. To finish things off, the entire project was mixed by J. Chris Griffin (Madonna, Corrs, Janet Jackson, Kelly Clarkson) at SyntheticMess/The Cutting Room in NYC.
In addition to original songs penned by Woody Moran, Tu-Toned Stranger also features a few familiar songs that have been given a new ?acoustic? treatment. Secret Smile from SemiSonic, Elton John?s Rocket Man and After Midnight by J.J. Cale are all crowd-pleasing songs that Woody and his band of ?Occasional Friends? have played live in L.A. area clubs. These three songs will not be available for download but will hopefully be a great reason to get the CD.
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