By Julia Train
John Wood was a star pitcher for Mainland Regional High School, but now he’s become a star musician.
In December 2020, he verbally committed to continue his baseball career after high school at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, an NCAA Division I program. However, when the coaches that recruited him left the program before he graduated in 2022, he was pointed in a different direction.
Wood, who played his first show at 17 as part of the 2021 Barefoot Country Music Fest in Wildwood, had only picked up the guitar two years prior, as a freshman, but making music came naturally to him.
In January 2022, he signed a record deal with Lamon Records, where he produced his single “Here She Comes” that ranked 24th on the All Music Charts’ Hot 50 Country Music songs.
After graduating high school, he spent a semester in Nashville at Belmont University. While he was there, Wood wrote country songs that he felt fit the mold of the city.
After the fall, he transferred to University of North Carolina at Wilmington, deleted all of the songs he had uploaded to music streaming platforms and created new music that he felt was more of a reflection of who he is.
“I started to allow myself to write what I wanted to do, rather than what I thought others would want,” said Wood.
Now, at 20 years old, he is still making music – both by himself and with his band, Local Noise, that started playing last July. Two of Wood’s bandmates go to school with him and are in the same fraternity as well.
While Local Noise plays classic rock covers with a four-piece band. Wood’s solo shows are just him and his guitar, mixing his own music and covers.
His original songs were professionally recorded and produced, but he wanted a less polished sound, one that was more like that of Tyler Childers, Zack Bryan or Jack Johnson.
While Childers, Bryan and Johnson are artists Wood hopes to emulate in his music, he said he’s also inspired by John Mayer, Sublime and Red Hot Chili Peppers as well.
His new song, “Garden State,” and his EP being released during the summer will feature his new sound.
“If someone looks at my Spotify I really don’t want them to hear something that I’m not proud of,” said Wood. “They were just basic country songs and I didn’t have a hand in production on them. I just wrote them and handed it to a producer–who did a great job–but [the songs on the EP] are all me producing it. This is all my brain working. So I wanted it to be a little more personal.”
Last summer, Wood spent every night traveling to play at restaurants around South Jersey. The emotions that brought up, driving the Garden State Parkway to gigs and to see his long-distance girlfriend in Connecticut are what inspired his new song.
Although that’s his reasoning behind the lyrics, he thinks it can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
This summer will be his third playing solo shows and his second playing with his band, which they’ll be performing about 10 shows during the season, playing mostly covers.
You can find him at local bars like Maynard’s in Margate and Charlie’s in Somers Point, among several others.
“It’s gonna be really fun this summer,” said Wood. “Garden State” will be available on all music platforms on Friday, May 10.
Julia is a student at Rider University, majoring in multiplatform journalism with a minor in social media strategies. At school, she writes and is news editor for The Rider News and is the News Director for the radio station, producing news updates. She’ll be graduating in the spring. Connect with her on Instagram @juliatrain
