Hail from Nashville (via Alabama and North Carolina) For fans of Blackberry Smoke, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jamey Johnson
Fishing. That’s what Wes Bayliss and Jason ‘Rowdy’ Cope bonded over after they met at a Nashville gig. But soon they were talking scales of a guitar kind, and realised they had a whole heap more in common. And thank the Lord they did, as the band they formed a few years ago – The Steel Woods – have emerged as one of the hottest exponents of that much-maligned music: Southern Rock. While The Steel Woods can be outrageously jammin’ and indulgent of guitar solos, they are also enthralled with classic country storytelling. Just as the legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd are passing out the Great American Music exit door, The Steel Woods are blazing in through the front.
“We both did these shows called Guitarmageddon,” explains frontman Wes Bayliss of first meeting his partner in songs Cope. “Just cover shows where everyone just turns up, play songs, goofs off and has a jam. But we got talking, hung out a little more, went fishing, and realised that what we had in mind for our futures was pretty closely lined up together. We had to get together. Or give it a try anyway.”