It is a family affair for the Scott Woods band.
The Ontario based sixth generation fiddler made his way to Humboldt on May 16 to perform at the Royal Canadian Legion for an eager Humboldt audience.
His Canada wide tour has been running since April and Woods says they’ve had a really good run with busy nights.
“We’ve played almost every night. The first couple of weeks wasn’t quite as busy but...it’s steady right through until the middle of June.”
Woods has lost track of how many times he’s been across Canada. He is thinking around 35-40 times driving across the country and he loves seeing the country and the people.
“The geography is so different but so beautiful in every part of Canada,” says Woods.
Every little place is familiar now that he has travelled so much and that makes it feel like he is not that far from home, says Woods.
Lots of places even have fans that have become more like family and who brings the band treats since, by now, they know what the band likes.
Travelling in a 45 foot tour bus, the band tries to make the best of it, says Woods. They eat their own food on the bus so they are not eating out every night and Woods has even brought his dog, Harmony, along to keep everyone company.
She’ll snuggle up to anyone who will let her, says Woods.
Even though the tour feels like a family RV getaway most days, there are some challenges.
Forty-five feet may sound like a lot of space but for six people and dog, it can get a little cramped when you’re there for 3 months at a time.
“Sometimes by the end of the tour, you think, ‘there is the bus. I can’t wait to get the hell out of it and go home and get some space.’”
The band brings all their own equipment, which includes PA system, lighting, backdrop, and projector, so getting that to work from one show to another can be a bit of a challenge.
Physically, even though he loves doing the drive, the trip can be exhausting for Woods.
For this leg of the tour, Woods is really happy to have his sister, Kendra (Woods) Norris, a newly retired school teacher back on the bus with him, as well as Steve Piticco, Gary Boles, Wes Dymond, and Patrick Linton.
The band started with Woods’ father and was very much a family tour for a while with Woods’ mom, dad, three siblings and himself all being part of the tour.
Two of his siblings have since gone on to other careers, while his mom retired from touring at the age of 73.
By the mid-1980s, Woods’ father was pushing him towards being the headliner and changed the Woods Family Band into the Scott Woods band.
“I didn’t want to speak on the mike...but he pushed me to tell a joke and introduce the tunes and it’s very comfortable for me to do that.”
Woods’ father stayed on as the manager and did a lot of the backstage tasks, which he liked better, says Woods.
With everyone busy with different careers, the Woods family still gets together at Christmas time to jam together as a family.
As well as playing instruments, some of the band members include other things into their show. At 25-years-old, Linton is a champion step dancer and does dancing demonstrations for the show, while Norris, has her own comedy routine that she includes.
Woods himself does fiddling tricks while playing the fiddle, including doing front flips while fiddling which is why he is known as the “Flippin’ Fiddler”.
Woods shows are done as local fundraisers. In total, Woods says they’ve raised over $2 million dollars since he’s start touring.
