Originally Published: 2007-01-21

For the past 25 years now, The Cameron House has stood as the bastion of Queen Street West bohemian cool. Part of that reputation has come from helping launch some of Toronto's best and most original talents, from Molly Johnson to Handsome Ned to more recently, Justin Rutledge. They all honed their craft during long-term musical residencies there, and, to that list, you can now add the name of Royal Wood.
This young piano-playing singer/songwriter has been playing there every Monday for the past few months. He's been attracting small but appreciative audiences, and now seems poised to greatly expand his following. At the end of January, Royal will release his second CD, A Good Enough Day, and is already making plans to tour across Canada in the months ahead. Tandem recently sat down with Wood over a pint in the front bar of The Cameron (fittingly) for a career update.
The impression gained from listening to Royal's new album is of a thoughtful and intelligent artist, a view confirmed in conversation. He's clearly gratified by initial response to A Good Enough Day, noting that "the fact that people are liking it in the way I wanted means a lot."
He acknowledges that putting it together was a long process, not surprising given its sophisticated arrangements and use of a string section. The core of the album resides in Wood's expressive piano playing, a pure and strong voice, and songs that primarily address matters of the heart.
His full-length debut album, 2004's Tall Tales, earned its share of positive reviews. Royal describes it as being "bouncy, upbeat and very uptempo, just very pop-rock. I had recording constraints in terms of the budget and the studio I was working in. When you have peanut butter and jelly you pretty much have to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
Receipt of an Ontario Arts Council grant meant a bigger budget for the new disc, and Wood set up shop at top-line (and sadly now-closed) Reaction Studios. Such fine local players and singers as Adam Hay, Hawksley Workman, Harmony Trowbridge, Kurt Swinghammer and Kevin Fox were also enlisted for the cause.

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