Latest Single “Mud” Now Streaming
It’s been just a year since singer/guitarist Eric Woods made the switch from performing solo to fronting a band, and that new band is making waves in the ‘muddy’ waters of our regional music scene. Bringing together touches of rock, funk, Americana, New Orleans influences and more, Eric Woods and The Way Down have concocted a warm, blended sound that focuses on giving people something they can move to.
“I think of it as more of a freewheelin’ southern rock type of sound…” Woods said. “Southern music with a good groove is what we’re trying to make.”
A Pascagoula native now living in Petal, Woods grew into a love of music organically at a young age.
“I loved singing along with the radio, and watching Pop Up Video on VH1 and things like that,” he chuckled. “I wanted to become a part of creating that.”
He dropped a solo EP called Time & Gasoline back in 2011 which put him on the map as an original performer and set him on a journey that’s lasted well over a decade now, but it was just last year that Woods had some friends join him for a pick up gig in Ocean Springs. Something clicked between them that night, and the earliest version of what would become The Way Down was born. Since then, things have changed a bit. Lineups shifted, the sound expanded, and the band grew. While some of Woods’ earlier solo material is still in the mix, The Way Down brought a whole new energy to the performance, and they began working with new original ideas and cover material.
“Mud” is the reveal of that sound. The song has a relaxed tempo and ties imagery of warm Mississippi creeks and waterways in with lyrics that invoke hints of introspection and danger, delivered on a plate of that Southern groove, grit and melody.
“On the surface it’s a song about running from the law, but underneath I think there’s a little something deeper going on.”
The band has a handful of other new songs that they currently perform, with more being written. Very much a performance oriented band, they often refine their music through playing it on stage until it sits just right. They are intending to release some of these songs as a live-recorded EP to carry that stage energy over into the listening experience.
