Donovan Woods (musician)


Donovan Woods is a Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter. He has released several albums of folk and roots music, including the Juno Award-winning Both Ways.

Early life

Woods was born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. He began playing guitar and writing songs as a teenager.

Career

Woods' first album, The Hold Up, was released in 2007.
Woods' song "Brand New Gun" was featured in the movie Numb starring Matthew Perry. His song "Wait and See" was featured on , and his song "My Cousin Has a Grey Cup Ring" was used in commercials for the Grey Cup. "Grey Cup Ring" was inspired by Woods' father, who is a cousin of former Montreal Alouettes player Glen Weir.
His second album, The Widowmaker, was released in 2010, and his third album, Don't Get Too Grand, was released in 2013.
Woods' song "Portland, Maine" has also been recorded by Tim McGraw. Woods' song "Leaving Nashville" has been recorded by Lady Antebellum singer Charles Kelley.
Woods was signed to Warner/Chappell Nashville in 2016. His fourth album, Hard Settle, Ain't Troubled, was released February 26, 2016, and was a longlisted nominee for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize. At the 12th Canadian Folk Music Awards, Woods won the award for English Songwriter of the Year, and the album was nominated for Contemporary Album of the Year.
His newest album, Both Ways, was released on April 20, 2018. In the same year, he was a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nominee as cowriter of James Barker Band's song "Chills".
At the Juno Awards of 2019, Both Ways won the Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. In May 2019 Woods released The Other Way, a companion album to Both Ways which featured more acoustic-based renditions of the prior album's songs. The Other Way included guest vocals from Tenille Townes on "I Ain't Ever Loved No One", which was a duet with Rose Cousins in its original Both Ways version.

Discography