Byron Woods - In The Land Of Smooth (2004)

If you like quality soul music, you’ll love Byron Woods. His music has the sophistication and music values of an era that gave us Leroy Hutson, Leon Ware and Curtis Mayfield. While new to recording as a solo artist, Chicago singer, songwriter and musician Woods has been making music behind the scenes for thirty years. He has worked as backing singer with Phil Perry whose music in particular has inspired the smooth, soulful and adult contemporary style of this debut album for Expansion.

Combining original songs with classy new versions of classics by Kenny Gamble & Thom Bell (Payback Is A Dog), Bunny Sigler (He’ll Never Love You) and LeRoy Hutson (Can This Be Real) the album has a multi-faceted sound quality, which expresses his unique vocal range from his own natural tones to falsetto. Other highlights are ‘Fly Away’, which was co-written by the late Garry Glenn, and ‘So Good’ which has already been adopted by the Soul Togetherness modern soul room scene. – Expansion