Jeffrey Scott Wood (born May 10, 1968) is an American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist. Wood was signed to a publishing contract in 1994, writing songs for other country artists, including "
Cowboy Love", a Top 5 hit for
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Montgomery began singing with his brother Eddie, who would later become known as one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, before beginning his major-label solo ca ...
in 1996. He signed to a recording contract with
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...
later that year, but did not release anything while on the label. His debut album, ''Between the Earth and the Stars'', was released in 1997 on
Imprint Records
Imprint Records, originally known as Veritas Music Entertainment, was an American record label established in July 1995 that specialized in country music. The label was disestablished in 1997.
History
Roy Wunsch, a former CEO of Sony Music Nashv ...
. This album produced three chart singles for Wood on the
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
charts that year, including the No. 44-peaking "You Just Get One". Although he did not chart again after 1997, Wood continued to write songs for other artists into the 2000s, including
Neal McCoy
Hubert Neal McGaughey Jr. (born July 30, 1958), known professionally as Neal McCoy, is an American country music singer. He has released 10 studio albums on various labels, and has released 34 singles to country radio. Although he first charted on ...
and
Phil Vassar
Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw ("For a Little While", ...
, and independently released a second album in 2008.
Biography
Wood was born May 10, 1968, in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
, Oklahoma. He later attended
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, where he earned a degree in finance and was a member of the
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlva ...
fraternity. One of Wood's classmates was
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...
, who, like Wood, had aspirations to become a country music artist. Eventually, both singers moved to
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
to begin their respective careers.
Wood was signed to a songwriting contract with EMI Publishing in 1994. One of his first cuts as a songwriter was "
Cowboy Love," which was a top five hit on the country charts for
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Montgomery began singing with his brother Eddie, who would later become known as one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, before beginning his major-label solo ca ...
in early 1996.
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...
signed Wood to a recording contract later that year, although he did not release anything for the label.
By the end of the year, he had signed to his second recording contract, this time with a newly started independent label,
Imprint Records
Imprint Records, originally known as Veritas Music Entertainment, was an American record label established in July 1995 that specialized in country music. The label was disestablished in 1997.
History
Roy Wunsch, a former CEO of Sony Music Nashv ...
. His debut album, ''
Between the Earth and the Stars'', was released on February 11, 1997, under the production of
Mark Bright
Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former footballer.
Born to a Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early age. He played non-league football ...
.
The album's lead-off single, "You Just Get One", reached number 44 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
) charts.
This song was co-written by
Don Schlitz
Donald Alan Schlitz Jr. (born August 29, 1952) is an American country music songwriter. For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammy Awards, as well as four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards.
In 1993, he was inducted int ...
and
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...
(who also played mandolin and guitar on the album), and was previously cut by
Ty Herndon
Boyd Tyrone Herndon (born May 2, 1962), known professionally as Ty Herndon, is an American country music singer and songwriter. His music career began in the 1980s as a member of the Tennessee River Boys, a predecessor to the country band Diamon ...
on his 1995 debut album ''
What Mattered Most''. Wood's rendition of the song featured Gill performing on guitar and mandolin.
Brett Atwood of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' called "You Just Get One" an "immensely likeable" single.
''Between the Earth and the Stars'' also produced minor chart singles in the number 55 "Use Mine" and number 63 "You Call That a Mountain",
which was later a single in 2000 for
B.J. Thomas
Billy Joe Thomas (August 7, 1942 – May 29, 2021) was an American singer widely known for his pop, country and Christian hits of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Popular songs by Thomas include "Hooked on a Feeling" (1968), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' ...
from his album of the same name. Imprint closed at the end of 1997, and Wood was left without a record label. He continued to write songs for other artists, including
Tracy Byrd
Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...
,
Neal McCoy
Hubert Neal McGaughey Jr. (born July 30, 1958), known professionally as Neal McCoy, is an American country music singer. He has released 10 studio albums on various labels, and has released 34 singles to country radio. Although he first charted on ...
, and
Phil Vassar
Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw ("For a Little While", ...
.
Wood was formerly the brother-in-law of
Phil Vassar
Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw ("For a Little While", ...
from 2003 to 2007. Vassar was married to Wood's sister, Julie.
In 2008, Wood returned to recording, issuing an album entitled ''Raw Wood'' independently. Its first single is a song entitled "Long Way from OK", a re-recording of a song previously found on his debut album. Wood also released a Christmas album and a religious-themed album.
Jeff Wood was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Band Venue Poster of the year.
In 2013, Wood issued his third country album entitled "The Jeff Scott Wood Project, Nothin' But Blue" independently, JeffScottWood.com.
Discography
Albums
Singles
Music videos
References
External links
JeffScottWood.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Jeff
1968 births
Living people
Musicians from Oklahoma City
Country musicians from Oklahoma
American country bass guitarists
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma
Guitarists from Oklahoma
American male bass guitarists
Imprint Records artists
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American male musicians