Don’t forget to check out Laura Barrett this Thursday at Hugh’s Room in Toronto! It promises to be a really awesome show.

If you don’t remember much about Laura Barrett (as, of course, you should), check out our previous profile of her here. (As a side note, she’ll be playing with Royal Wood. So here’s your chance to check him out as well.)

14 Aug 2008 20:00 Hugh’s Room Toronto
16 Aug 2008 20:00 Summerworks @ Theatre Centre Toronto
20 Sep 2008 20:00 LOLA festival London

Here’s an update for you: If you haven’t yet seen Royal Wood in concert, do yourself a huge favour and make sure to be at Hugh’s Room on August 14th (that’s Thursday, folks) or at the Peterborough Folk Festival on August 22nd. If you missed my glowing recommendation of Royal Wood the first time around, be sure to check it out. And, as further convincing – check out the video above. How can you resist that voice? (…and that pretty face? Heh.)

Upcoming shows:
14 Aug 2008 20:00 Hugh’s Room with Laura Barrett Toronto
22 Aug 2008 12:00 Peterborough Folk Festival Peterborough

We got the chance to see Royal Wood perform at a BBQ hosted by Six Shooter Records during NXNE.  I had seen him previously as he opened for my favourite Canadian songstress Sarah Slean in May and he quickly found a place in my heart.  There is something to be said for an opening act moving an entire audience to tears with a song he wrote about the death of a friend’s grandparents. He had all of us singing along.  Putty in his hands.

On Jan 30th 2007, Royal Wood and Dead Daisy Records/Outside Music unleashed A Good Enough Day to rave reviews.  Carefully writing, performing and producing the effort, Royal decided to have a few guest musicians sit in, including well-known Toronto musicians Hawksley Workman, Kurt Swinghammer, Harmony Trowbridge and Kevin Fox.

With the new record out to critical praise, his music in the hands of fans, successful performances at major festivals and venues, including a tour with Canadian songstress Sarah Harmer, Royal Wood is an artist whose time is at hand to be heard.Royal’s music has been featured on several TV and movie soundtracks; including the HBO series Regenisis, the CBC series This is Wonderland, the CTV movie Playing House, the film The End of Silence starring Sarah Harmer, and the Warner Music Canada soundtrack to the Food Network’s The Surreal Gourmet (with other artists including Feist, Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips, Moby, Aretha Franklin) and more.

His self-written, performed and produced releases The Milkweed EP (2003) and Tall Tales (2004) have garnered critical praise.

Beginning on the piano at the age of four, Royal became a multi-instrumentalist by his early teens. In fact, any instrument he could get his hands on was explored and devoured. His school’s music program had a sign-out policy for any instrument smaller than the tympani – and they all found their way home to his bedroom. Even the drums came home for the summer months.

Fast-forward to today, and you will find Royal performing major events like Hillside Music Festival, Canadian Music Week, North by Northeast, Halifax Pop Explosion, Bluebird North and more; as well as sharing the stage with the likes of Sarah Harmer, My Morning Jacket, Sarah Slean, Peter Elkas, Danny Michel, Serena Ryder, Dan Bern, Justin Rutledge, Lindy, Jill and Matt Barber, Emm Gryner, Erin McKowen and more.