Craig Woodward Bio
For the past 35 years Craig Woodward has worked as a performing musician in both the live
music industry and as a recording artist. Starting his career as a performer at 18 when he was
able to drive himself to gigs and was legally allowed to perform in licensed venues his first
musical outings were as a solo performer, performing America pre-war style ‘country blues’
music. Through the influence of western pop, rock and country music that he grew up listening to
on the radio he had started digging back to find the roots of these contemporary styles and found
himself developing a strong passion for the early blues music which opened up new windows and
lead him to the discovery of other American ‘Southern’ traditional music styles, in particular
Appalachian ‘Old-time’ and ‘Stringband’ music and the French ‘Cajun’ and Creole music of
Southwest Louisiana and East Texas. His shift in focus from the country blues to the music of the
Southern Appalachians and the prairie and bayou of the deep South lead him to transition from
playing guitar exclusively to the study of 5-string banjo, fiddle, mandolin and the single row
diatonic button accordion.
Although his primary interest has been performing at local bars, pubs, restaurants etc to bring
Old-time and traditional acoustic music to the general public rather than making his career focus
on specialised ‘folk’ and traditional music festivals and conventions over the years Craig has
performed and conducted instrumental workshops at countless Australian music events and
festivals including The National Folk Festival in Canberra, Port Ferry Folk Festival, Tamworth
Country Music Festival, Woodford and Traditional Bluegrass and Traditional Country Music
Festivals Yarra Junction Fiddlers Convention, Harrietville Bluegrass Festival, Dorrigo, the Kelly
County Pick and Music Camp plus many others