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A decade into his career and Donovan Woods’ songwriting remains wholly invested in exploring the human condition as he mines small moments to find greater truths. Donovan Woods' new ‘Without People’ album is alive with intimacy and connection at a surreal time when we’re all in desperate need of both. The album is available today (Fri., Nov. 6) everywhere you can find music. 

Watch a dance interpretation of the album’s “We Used To” performed by Ariana and the Rose (out today, 11.6).

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While created piece by piece from Woods’ makeshift home recording studio and other musicians in isolation from their homes, so much of ‘Without People’’s allure and power is rooted in how Woods connects with his collaborators.Produced by James Bunton and vocal producer Todd Clark (Dua Lipa, Noah Kahan, Phillip Phillips), the album recruits a stellar array of co-writers including Ashley Monroe, Pruitt, Tucker Beathard and more.

From the snippets of warm chatter and lush strings on the title track to the gossamer layers of harmonies on “Seeing Other People”; the aching loneliness of “Grew Apart” to the tenderness of love’s redeeming grace on the evocative Katie Pruitt duet “She Waits For Me to Come Back Down,” Woods captures sentiments about wanting to be alone — until you’re suddenly lonely - and why we so often chase something we’re never going to get. Each song is a reminder that relationships are what bind us, and what matters most is how we treat one another and whether we’re truly listening and trying to understand experiences distinct from our own.

Yesterday, Thurs., Nov. 5, Woods performed a livestream benefit concert from an empty Roy Thomson Hall supporting Artscan Circle and Southern Girls Rock Camp, two non-profit organizations that encourage youth participation in music. For more information on Woods, visit donovanwoods.net.

"In the middle of a pandemic as the truth of our environmental devastation sinks in, in the thick of protests reshaping our thoughts on policing and crystallizing the reality of white supremacy at work in all corners of our society, it feels silly to write about relationships," says Woods. "But, what I discover time and time again is that my brain wants to fixate on and examine small moments that may have seemed inconsequential but have ended up shaping my sense of self. So, if we are coming to the end of something (and it feels like we are), I can say that I tried my hardest to write truthfully about the people I’ve loved and the things I did wrong, and add my little verse to the story of what it feels like to be a person, longing for connection, and then longing for solitude, and then longing for connection. All in all, I think the record sounds like the times it was made in: turbulent and lonesome."

Donovan Woods is represented by Paradigm Talent for Live Shows in the US and booked and managed by Paquin Entertainment in Canada.