Focus on the bass!.....Woody!

So.... What might be said about Robert "Woody" Woodruff...something that isn't obvious to those who have heard Poor Yorick in person over the years.  Perhaps a little background....In the dark formative years, primordial ooze being what it is, that which was to become PY had nothing but guitar-players in their midst and began looking for a bass player.  Ron said he knew someone who might fit the bill, but that he lived in San Antonio.  Woody had, in fact, been the pseudo-fabled "lead-rythm-guitar-player" for The Dogs at an earlier point (another story altogether), and leapt at the chance to once again play music in Austin.   

Well...anyone who has witnessed it can tell you,  Woody just doesn't play the bass.  Nor does he just play music.  He's.....kinetic...yes, that's it!  He moves.  And he has been a major fixture, influence, and force within PY for it's entire existence.  If we might be permitted a brief musical-techno-nerd comment,..Mr. Woodruff doesn't always stay safely 'locked-in' with the kick drum...he explores the transitions during the 'changes'...looks for alternative ways of 'getting to the root'.  At other times, he plays the damn thing one-handed!  Then there are the moments when we allow him near a microphone...which he himself will often attempt to avoid, but which would most certainly be missed by the PY faithful if he stopped.

Put on the headphones and give a listen to the melodic bass tumbles in  On With The Show (1997)...or the surprising funkiness in the bass line on Wishing Well  (2007)...and of course, explore questionable aspects of eastern European folk dancing with Woody's stirring/provocative rendition of Polka, Polka, Polka (2005)...how naughty! 

A seminal member of PY, an ever-freshening source of "facts that only he knows", and a consumate performer....we give you,..your honor, we ask you,... Robert "Woody" Woodruff.