Alex Woodard

Alex Woodard surfaced in the early years of the 2000s with a gritty fusion of folk, Americana, and ringing rock that wove together confessional tales and inward reflection. A dedicated surfer and one-time juvenile performer from California, he gradually located his musical identity and issued several well-received records, among them Mile High in 2004 and a self-titled collection in 2008. Eventually he channeled his innate gift for narrative into authorship, linking his twin enthusiasms via the distinctive 2012 pairing of book and album titled For the Sender. That project grew into a continuing sequence that produced two further volumes and recordings, among them Love Letters from Vietnam in 2015. Even as he pursued writing with the 2020 release Living Halfway, Woodard kept issuing new songs across a run of EPs.

Born June 27, 1972 and raised in Long Beach, California, he took up acting while still a youngster and appeared in several minor television parts. During adolescence his interests turned to surfing and music; he learned piano and guitar on his own and performed with a neighborhood group. Songwriting became his main focus during college, and after completing his studies at U.C.L.A. he spent a year performing in Boston clubs. Relocating next to Seattle, he issued the eight-track EP Woodard in 1996, which garnered local radio exposure and press notice. By 2000 he had assembled a solid ensemble that included musicians from the Posies and Fountains of Wayne, releasing the full-length Nowhere Near Here. Blending committed singer-songwriter pop with roots-oriented folk-rock, he followed with Saturn Returns in 2002 before settling in San Diego. Working under the guidance of Pete Droge, the 2004 album Mile High reached a broader listenership while he stayed independent. Two additional records appeared—Up with the Sun in 2006 and the self-titled Alex Woodard in 2008—while he logged extensive road miles without attaining widespread commercial breakthrough.

As the following decade began, Woodard devised an unusual premise that refreshed his music and opened a rewarding new chapter. He invited anyone who sent him a letter recounting their experiences to receive a song written in response. Issued in 2012, For the Sender appeared simultaneously as book and album, with Woodard and various collaborators giving musical shape to the strangers’ stories. Straightforward, candid, and uplifting, the project succeeded and initiated a series of combined releases that encompassed For the Sender: Love Is (Not a Feeling) in 2014 and For the Sender: Love Letters from Vietnam in 2015. Energized by this direction, he wrote the motivational volume Living Halfway in 2020 and began a sequence of EPs with Stop Making Me Cry in 2018, then added Start Making Me Laugh and Black Eye Blue in 2021.