Musician Joe Wood was at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Toronto in July 1984 when he realized that while he wanted to remain in the music industry, he didn’t want to perform.
“If you’re gonna get a reality check, that’s the guy that’s gonna give it to you,” said Wood.
But Wood didn’t want to leave the industry. He viewed his experiences as a pop-country/pop-folk musician who got radio airplay with several singles as an apprenticeship to help other artists get their work on the radio.
Five decades later, through his company RDR Music Group, which he co-founded with his ex-wife, Wood continues to help musicians. He’s done it as the music industry has undergone profound change, from vinyl records to CDs and digital (and back to vinyl), all of which Wood has found himself immersed in.
The longtime Liverpool, N.S., resident is being honoured later this month with a special plaque ceremony at the National Music Centre in Calgary, following his induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame last year in the builders category.
Wood said when RDR started in the early 1980s, the company pressed 45s for artists.
By the late 1980s as CDs took over, Wood said RDR was one of the first companies in Canada to release an independent CD filled with both country and pop music to radio. The pitch to artists was simple.
“I realized when that transition happened that the average musician, working musician, could not afford the cost of a CD,” said Wood.
And just like CDs replaced vinyl records, being able to send and listen to files digitally was another massive format change.
Going digital
Wood remembers being at a conference in Calgary when he learned about this technology that a Toronto company had the platform for, which allowed a fully mastered digital file to be sent to radio stations across the country in a matter of seconds.
After negotiating with the company that had the technology, Wood said they reached a deal in 2005 so he could use it to distribute music by independent musicians.
“I remember going to conferences and workshops across the country and I felt like Bob Dylan when he switched to electric. I got booed off stage. I got laughed at,” said Wood.
“I got told I was five years ahead of myself until the major labels decided this is the way they’re gonna go to radio, and radio decided we don’t want hard copy CDs anymore.”
Wood said when that happened, he was flooded with phone calls and emails from independent musicians wanting to get on board.
Being able to send files digitally also meant no longer having to press songs on formats like vinyl or CDs, package them, take them to the post office, and hope the item was delivered and undamaged.
“I can’t wait to hear what comes in,” said Wood. “There’s nothing that gives me a thrill better than when Lennie Gallant calls me and says, ‘I’ve got a tune about Sable Island, can you get it out tomorrow?’ And I do, and I listen to CBC two days later and it’s on the radio.”
Despite the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame induction, the reality is the music Wood helps deliver to radio spans all genres, including classical, jazz, rock, hip-hop, and, obviously, country.
A slideshow on the company’s website lists the diverse artists RDR has worked with, including Garth Brooks, Mötley Crüe and Ian Tyson.
Jon Mullane of Mahone Bay, N.S., first crossed paths with Wood in the 1990s. Back then, Mullane was putting out music under the name Jonathan M. His song One More Chance was put out on one of RDR’s compilation albums and ended up getting a lot of radio airplay.
Mullane was fresh out of university, as was his best friend-turned manager.
“It’s funny because … Joe was kind of advising my manager Paul a little bit because Joe had been an artist and had been in the music business,” said Mullane. “They became kind of friends and he made suggestions as to what to do beyond the radio promotion.
“And it was very helpful, actually.”
Over the years, Mullane kept in touch with Wood, running into him at industry events and then in person on the South Shore over the last decade.
Wood is once again releasing Mullane’s songs to radio, with Mullane calling it a full-circle moment.
Mullane said Wood is easygoing and thoughtful.
“I don’t think anyone would have a bad word [to say] about him,” said Mullane.
P.E.I. musician Lennie Gallant has similar views. He said Wood has helped him immensely over the years to get his music out there.
“Just about anyone in the music industry who has crossed paths with Joe Wood cannot help but feel that this guy is solid in his deep love of music and his care for those who choose to make it their career,” Gallant wrote in an email.
“If Joe believes you have something to offer, he will do all he can to help make it happen.”
The nature of Wood’s work means he can do it from anywhere. Some of his preferred working spots in Nova Scotia are to take his car and park near the ocean, as well as at the Main & Mersey coffee shop in Liverpool.
South Shore a hot spot for inductions
Wood is the third Nova Scotian from the Liverpool area to be named to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
“It’s unbelievable, so to be in the same paragraph as Carroll Baker and Hank Snow was crazy,” said Wood.
Wood loves his work and doesn’t view it as a chore, so he’s in no hurry to pack it in. But he has been at it long enough that some clients are the children of artists he previously worked with.
“I figure if I hang in there for the grandkids, it’ll be time to wrap it up,” he said.
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