Resurrection by Guitar

The story of C.D. Woodbury

By Roy Brown

Some kids just don’t fit in. They are transparent; a drab wallpaper covering the sheetrock of their adolescent society. Attempts at conversation are pointless: other kids smile and turn away. Teenage society is ruthless. Games are played and jokes are conjured up with these kids as the butt. It’s not much fun being a teen in school when you’re all alone.

After school, these kids go home to an empty house, to be by themselves. They are latch key kids whose parents work too damn hard for not enough money, with only the TV there to give comfort. The result can be depression, low self-worth, addictions, future homelessness and prison. Sometimes the result is violent crime, death and destruction, anything attempting to fill the growing hole in the soul. These children will become no more than a blip that vanishes from the radar of our social system.

There is a bandage to stop the bleeding and begin healing the wounds, even for these kids. The healing power is passion. For some kids it’s mechanics and cars. For others, it might be trumpets and guitars.

This is a story about one of those kids. School found him collecting all the ingredients of a troubled life. There were no friends. As he told me, “there was the ‘in’ group, and there was the ‘out’ group. I couldn’t even make friends with the out group. There were some in my life who tried to intercede, but I just pushed them away.” As he uncovered his passion, he discovered dreams and informally set goals. A process developed to begin achieving. And now this young man is a phenomenal guitarist who entertains us every week, sometimes at multiple venues. This is the story of C.D. Woodbury.

I’m surprised anew every time his guitar melodically releases songs and gives birth to the improvisation that is the mark of a great musician. Why is that? I think it’s because he isn’t a glitzy front man who entertains with great shtick between songs. He doesn’t wow you with a well coordinated wardrobe. He just plays great guitar with matching vocal ability. So I forget about C.D, as, in my mind, he gets lost amongst the plethora of guitar greats. Then he is on stage again, and I think, wow…how could I ever forget?

C.D. grew up in Salem. Oregon. His after school friend was MTV. In that day there was a lot of filler, such as old videos of Cream, Santana, Hendrix and many others. The boy’s parents preferred folk (mom) and country (dad) music. MTV was Woodbury’s first exposure to the world of rock. C.D. was a trumpet player in the band, so he had started down the road to music. It was the sizzling sounds of Clapton and Hendrix that led him to the guitar. Dad built C.D’s first guitar with parts from a beater that he got from a garage sale along with a single coil (pick-up) from the store, for the whopping price of $27.

As C.D. puts it, “Guitar became my sanity during the teen years. I was small, didn’t have social skills, and my parents weren’t well off during the Reagan ‘80s. I got a lot of grief from my classmates while growing up. I couldn’t identify with anybody and had only a few occasional friends.”

After high school graduation, C.D. joined the army and eventually ended up in the First Cavalry Division band at Ft. Hood. He also found a rock band that could use a good guitar player. When he wasn’t playing for Uncle Sam or the band, he spent weekends in Mecca, a.k.a. Austin, Texas, a few hours drive from the base. With the emersion into all this music, the die was cast. Whatever else life had in store for him, C.D. Woodbury was first and foremost, a guitarist. Everything else would have to come second.

But I’m just a fan. I have less than a rudimentary understanding of music. C.D. can also be classified as a musician’s guitar player. If you don’t believe me, here is what Polly O’Keary has to say: “I met C.D. at a club called Sparky's where the Colonel and I were running a Jam. I think C.D. was one of three people who ever showed up. I'd never heard of him, but when he got out that red Gibson 135 he plays, I figured he might be pretty good. Then he played: I was blown away. Later, when I formed a band of my own, he was the first guy I called. I still work with him sometimes. I love C.D.”

He and I sat down one afternoon to talk about where he’s been, is now, and where he is going. Here is C.D. about getting started.

“I liked music when I was a kid. My first instrument was a trumpet. My parents were the last generation that didn’t listen to rock & roll. Mother had an acoustic guitar, so I learned some Hank Williams / Johnny Cash that dad liked. Then I got a glimpse of MTV which had only 12 videos and ten were Rod Stewart. The program filled in with the old Sullivan show and other shows when Cream and Hendrix and the Doors were playing live. That really got me interested in guitar, especially watching Hendrix playing live on this old black & white Danish TV show. From that moment I had to get an electric guitar. Guitar was the first instrument that I learned to improvise on; that’s when it really got fun. I could make notes with other instruments from school, but what I liked about music at that point was beginning to create my own music within a format. I began to improvise with jazz, then with blues. I couldn’t copy Clapton or Hendricks licks, but someone showed me what the box scale was. Finally I could begin to play licks something like what I heard on records.”

RB: Did you get to the point where you could do that on any other instruments?

C.D: Eventually I got to a point that I could play jazz licks on the trumpet. But guitar was always the main thing. I’m probably the only person with a music degree that can’t play a lick of piano. You have to, so I would take the assignment, work out the theory on the keyboard, take it home and learn it on the guitar. I would ‘yellow / red / blue’ the assignment for the piano keys.

RB: That sounds like the long way around.

C.D: You’re supposed to be able do it on the piano. But I would work it out on the guitar, and then fumble my way through the keyboard for the rest of the week in order to complete the assignment. So I love instruments, but it has been the guitar that has worked out for me fairly well.

RB: So you find the guitar easy to play.

C.D: Yeah.

RB: Do you think the guitar is an inborn talent?

C.D: With the guitar I was willing to put in the 6-12 months to get the basics down. After, somebody showed me something very cool at the right musical age. I was 14 or 15. So I would go home after school and practice guitar. It sounded cool and it made me feel good. The more I played, the better it felt and the better it sounded. And the better it sounded, the better I felt.

R.B: A little introspection here, what do you think are your strongest points as musician, and what are your most glaring weaknesses?

C.D: My greatest talent as a younger guitar player is that I can be a chameleon. I’m able to direct people very well too, in informal situations. I’m not as tasteful and note perfect as Rod Cook or Henry Cooper. I can’t be as much of a firebrand as Nick Vigarino. But I can find a spot in between. So if I’m on stage with a tasteful player I can do the more incendiary music, or if I’m on stage with a hard burner I can play more tasteful stuff. I can’t be as harmonically inventive as someone like Mark Whitman. But I can still be harmonically inventive. While I’m not an expert with any of those qualities, I can do a little of all of it, filling in the areas to complete the sound. I don’t think I do anything better than the guitar specialists, but I can cover any of them well and not be embarrassed.

RB: What’s the other side of it then? What are your liabilities?

C.D: I’m still a little too young to be taken seriously. I’m a fat man in an industry where it’s more acceptable to be a drug addict than to be an oversized person. I’m not the show biz type. Part of the reason I play music is that I’m more comfortable on stage than talking to people. The break between songs is what is uncomfortable for me. I don’t do the in between banter well at all. That’s when I get stage fright. I have no stage fright when I play. It’s when I have to make eye contact with that person across the way, that’s when I get scared.

RB: I hear you saying you’re comfort’s in playing, not being a band leader.

C.D: That isn’t really true. Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean being a front man, which is where the discomfort lies. I’m talking with some big name entertainers right now. I might become a band leader very soon. I can’t disclose the specifics now. A local headliner feels he has done as much as he can as a leader and wants to become a back up person. There are some other changes in the works, too. Steve (Sarkowski) is rounding up some players for a big band concept, like the band that backs Robbie Laws when he comes to town. It’s sort of like the old Bay Area funk sound. I’m sure I’m not the only one he asked about leading it, but I immediately said, “Hell Yeah.” I might have scared him away because I was so excited about the opportunity. At the Snohomish jam I’m kind of the ring leader, so I’m good with being a band leader, and it might happen sooner rather than later.

The Oxford Jam is a big part of C.D’s current musical direction. He is working with Tommy Morgan, the drummer with The Rhythm Method, Polly O’Keary’s band, and Steve Ater, bassist with the Tone Kings. I asked Stevee if he had a few words about C.D.

“C.D. and I have been together doing the Oxford Saloon Jam for over 4 years now. This project owes much of its success to C.D, his playing and musical direction. C.D. has a unique combination of education (he has a degree in music studies from Portland State), skill, raw musical talent and passion. Sometimes we get into a situation I call ‘saving the train wreck’. We jam to a point where the song is going sideways and it’s C.D. who pulls it back with brilliant improvisation.”

RB: Musically, blues jams usually seem to work. I’ve been to some jams where a country picker is followed by a flute soloist, with a first year key player next. Then they all play something together and my ears begin to bleed. How do you guys always pull off a good jam without knowing who will show up, or the talent level you have to deal with?

C.D: Half of the equation is the great core band with Steve (Ater) on bass and Tommy (Cook) on drums. Even if no jammers show up, we can put on a good show. There is an audience expectation, but folks understand that they might be watching a beginner. That beginner is stepping out and attempting to get better by getting up on the stage. And no matter what the skill level, the audience always wants you to do well. So jams always have an easy crowd that is appreciative of the player regardless of the skill level.

The other half is the mix. We never put together three people who are all beginners. We balance out skilled and unskilled players. Some of the good cats don’t like it much, but it’s a jam, so it is what it is. We have very good players that come out and with the mix of rookies and vets, we have confidence there will always be a good show. And we have a lot of regulars in the audience, which speaks to the quality. They keep coming back.

R.B: Let’s move to business. Moving up the ladder requires writing and making records. It also requires consistent if not somewhat aggressive marketing. Are there plans to make and promote a solo or band record? I’ve seen bands that come out with a great album and end up eating lots of copies when the interest dies. Is there a record in the future for C.D. Woodbury?

C.D: For the past couple of months I’ve dug through a dozen old recordings I have found. I’m trying to put enough tracks together for a live album. I also have to put together an official band. I had a great time recording at Egg Studios a few years back with the first Polly record. I’ve also had some wonderful experiences with Mark Naron at Fastback Studio doing Christina’s (Porter) album. I enjoy the process, but have a lot better time playing live than I do playing in the studio. The material is critical. I’ve seen it (producing a record) work with Polly’s (O’Keary) band resulting in turning a profit. It is a model for me.

In mid to late 2004 C.D. joined Polly O’Keary’s Rhythm Method, her original version, as the founding guitarist. He was more than just the player, giving ideas for Polly’s first rate writing, and his participation was significant in making her first record. But after three years the comfort of that position began to stagnate his musical growth; it was time to move on. C.D. is now the local guitarist for the Mark Dufresne band. I asked Mark about his impressions of C.D.

“When I got back to Seattle from my Roomful (of Blues) stint I needed a guitarist. On the good word of Randy Oxford I exchanged e-mails with C.D. Woodbury. We played our first gig together, no rehearsal. With most of the work he does with us, he never gets to rehearse but still plays wonderfully despite this obstacle. Regarding C.D.’s guitar slinging, he has great tone with a natural sound that I like in a guitar. C.D. is a versatile guitar man which is no small praise in this age of the ‘specialist.’ He handles the lost art of rhythm guitar beautifully. Many of the great guitar men only know one or two styles of rhythm. C.D. has learned many more, which is critical. The band feels fortunate to be working with C.D. He is absolutely a consummate professional. That's A Fact, Jack.”

And here is C.D. on working with the Mark Dufresne Band.

“My role in Mark’s band is very different. With Polly I was singing and providing ideas for song writing; with Mark’s band I’m there only as a guitarist. Mark is an international class performer. He is a wonderful song writer, incredible singer and harp player. I joke about having the worst of both worlds. I’m a cover musician and I play the parts of past guitar greats such as Billy Stapleton and Kid Ramos. I have to play like the other cats to make the music like it was when they were with Mark, learning both their music and their styles. Mark has had a core that goes back 15-20 years. It’s a very cool job, but it starts and ends with being the guitar player.”

So there you have the story of C.D. Woodbury. On the other side of his life, C.D. is computer related, and he is now studying computer animation. He loves graphics and has worked in graphic related fields in the past, but there is higher demand and greater compensation in the field of animation. While fans who know him enjoy his work, he is a musician’s guitarist. You can see C.D. at the Oxford Jam every Thursday night in Snohomish (www.oxfordsaloon.com). Or you can catch a show when Mark Dufresne is in the area (www.markdufresne.net). Thanks to Mark, Polly (www.pollyokeary.com) and Steve (www.tone-kings.com) for their contributions.

And the story is more than being about a great guitar player who deserves more recognition and respect. Bringing it full circle, it is a story about rescue and intervention. We spend a lot of money trying to bring troubled youth back into the fold, and we aren’t very successful. The story of C.D. tells us that one important step is to teach kids early on about passion and how to find it. It doesn’t matter what it is. For C.D. it was the guitar, but it could be anything that brings a child to the centerline of a positive life path. I’m sure it’s not the entire answer, but I’m also sure it is an important part of the equation. It is something we can all help with, and it doesn’t cost a dime.