Esteemed singer-songwriter, who is also an author, Alex Woodard, is most definitely a story writer, heavily influenced by legendary musician, Bruce Springsteen and “All The Pretty Horses” author, Cormac McCarthy. “Living Halfway” is Woodard’s current collection of essays, showcasing his raw, candid, and emotive words. “Halfway” is his single that he’s currently releasing that has greater depth, although the song has been in rotation for several years now. The song and the book simultaneously engage each other with similar themes.
The accompanying music video for “Halfway” is animated, linking the text with the song, and the clip was created by fellow singer-songwriter, San Diego musician, Savannah Philyaw, assisting Woodard with his themes and tone for “Living Halfway.” The music video is a masterful piece with “a powerful, emotional punch.”
Not only are you a singer-songwriter, but you’re also an author too. Does your authoring influence your writing in music, and/or vice versa?
Alex Woodard: The songwriting influences the authoring in terms of brevity: communicating an idea quickly. Also, someone once told me (with songwriting) not to tell people how I feel, just make people feel it. That’s a great lesson for authoring, too. And the authoring influences the songwriting because a lot of the songs I’m releasing right now are literally about the (true) stories in my books.
You’re very detailed in your writing, along with being candid and openly raw. What is your writing process like, and are you influenced by any other authors and songwriters with your writing style?
Alex: I’m an in-the-moment, throw-it-all-on-the-page writer, both in word and song. I think most of writing is editing, and it’s crucial to get the idea out first, whatever that looks like, however messy, before you lose it. Then, go back and refine it.
Springsteen has been quite an influence because he’s a great storyteller, who’s very authentic and unapologetic. Cormac McCarthy, in particular his “All The Pretty Horses” trilogy, had a really big impact right when I started writing my first book. The way he uses language showed me that there were no rules and helped galvanize my writing voice.
“Halfway” correlates with your book of essays. How did this idea come about, and what do you hope your listeners and readers take away from both or either?
Alex: The song came first, back in 2008…I was feeling like I was stuck halfway to ‘someday,’ pursuing this music dream but really just treading water. As I was finishing the new book last year, I was in this stream of consciousness mode that I talked about earlier, and that song filtered into my writing. I realized the overarching story I’d told, in that collection of essays, was mostly from the time in my life when the song “Halfway” was written and recorded. It was an eerie moment…I felt like something else was at work.
The same message applies to both the song and book: dreaming about the future is fine, but there may be something more beautiful out there for you than you could possibly have dreamed, and waiting around isn’t going to get you there. When you’re stuck, steps anywhere are better than steps nowhere.
The animated video for “Halfway” was created by Savannah Philyaw; how did you get connected to her, and what was it like seeing details from your life on screen?
Alex: We had one of those six degrees of separation things happen… she had animated a video for my friend Jack Tempchin (he wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and several other hits), which I really liked, and a few days later I saw her randomly in a video with another songwriter I’ve been working with. I thought she looked familiar for some reason, but I’d never met her. He told me her name, which I recognized as the animator for Jack’s video. I figured the universe was telling me I should probably reach out to her. Turns out, she’d already had one of my books and had gifted it to someone else that same week. Weird.
What do music and books mean to you, personally, professionally, and mentally?
Alex: Well, they really both mean the same thing to me: stories. I’ve found connection and meaning in stories since I was a little kid, and I think that’s because storytelling is our oldest way of passing wisdom and knowledge from one generation to the next, going back to when we gathered in tribes. There’s something deep within us that’s wired to communicate that way, either on the delivering end, or the receiving, or both. So music and books mean, in a word, everything.
Fun Questions
Who was your first concert, and who has been your overall favorite, thus far?
Alex: Bryan Adams was my first: the Reckless tour at the Forum in LA. I caught a drumstick. And decades later, that first guitar player I’d ever seen in concert (Keith Scott, still Bryan’s guitar player) ended up playing with me on my For The Sender project.
I’d have to say my favorite concert was the first Springsteen show I saw, tied with the most recent.
What was your first album that you recall purchasing on cassette, CD, and/or vinyl?
Alex: That’s a tough one. Let me think… I remember buying an album at the Wherehouse when I was like 11, only because it had “Life in a Northern Town’ on it, which I loved. I think the band was called Dream Academy.
Which five albums and/or artists would you not want to live without?
Alex: I can live without just about anything except food, water, and my dog, but:
Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
Appetite for Destruction – Guns n’ Roses
Full Moon Fever – Tom Petty
August and Everything After – Counting Crows
Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan
Which top five books and/or artists have influenced your writing the most?
Alex:
Cormac McCarthy
Henry David Thoreau
Stephen King
Bruce Springsteen
Tom Petty
What are you currently listening to, reading, and/or watching?
Alex: I just saw “Nomadland,” which I loved. “The Handsmaid’s Tale” is about to start up again, so I’ll be knee-deep in that guilty pleasure soon. I’m re-reading Thoreau’s “Walden” right now, and listening to whatever Spotify throws at me under the Americana tag…I’ve also been listening to a lot of older outlaw country. Waylon Jennings especially.
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