Royal Wood Will Perform At Enlow Recital Hall

Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Royal Wood will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 1 at Enlow Recital Hall on Kean University's East Campus. Wood's beautiful melodies and soulful vocals are an ode to the classic styles of both Tin Pan Alley and Laurel Canyon. Since being named Songwriter of the Year by iTunes in 2008, Wood has continued to evolve and hone his musical craft, maintaining an unmistakable identity while uncovering and reinventing his sound.

Wood has toured with legendary artists Bonnie Raitt and David Gray. Two of his albums debuted in the Top 30 and he has twice been nominated for Canada's Juno Awards and Canadian Folk Music Awards. His songs have been heard on the television shows Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. Wood's music is inspired by both love and loss, as shown on his latest album, Ever After the Farewell. In the same year, he lost his father to Alzheimer's disease and also fell in love and got married.

"Life showed me firsthand that I had never felt true grief before, nor did I understand love either until now," he said. "It's been a year of true paradigm shifts."

Wood channeled these polar opposite emotions into his album, Ever After the Farewell, recorded in London with Jamie Scott, who is known for his work with Ed SHeeran, Niall Horan and Michael Kiwanuka.

"The very first thing Jamie and I worked on was Something About You," said Wood. "Jamie started riffing on the idea that it should be about a girl you see and instantly fall for. It ended up being a call out to the universe because one week later, I met my wife for the first time and fell instantly in love."

Most of the songs on the album were recorded the day they were written, with Wood playing the majority of the instruments. The album was recorded on the same console that the Beatles used to record Abbey Road.

"Every day I walked into the studio in London with the ghosts of my musical heroes sitting beside me," said Wood. "All of my life, I wanted to make music with the Beatles, and now I feel like I have. For me, Lennon and McCartney were definitely with me when I wrote Hardest Thing of All."

Wood decided to name the album Ever After the Farewell in order to encompass the conflicting emotions he felt while creating the music.

"I said farewell to my father, but I started the journey of ever after with my wife," he said. "We used the man and woman's hands on the cover because they represent both my hand taking my wife's hand in marriage, and my father's leaving my mother's."

Enlow Recital Hall is located at 215 North Ave., Hillside, on Kean University's East Campus. Tickets are $35-$55 and can be purchased at the Kean Stage Box Office in Wilkins Theatre on Kean University's main campus, by phone at 908-737-7469 or online at www.keanstage.com.