Harmonica champion ‘Wailin’ Wood’ performs in concert at The Renaissance Center

Release Date: 10/27/2003. Expired: 11/15/2003

Glenn Woodland makes a harmonica come alive. The three-time world champion does more than just play the harmonica, he makes it talk, he turns it into a chugging train. He can even play it without using his hands.

With more competition titles than he can count, Woodland, known as Wailin’ Wood in music circles, brings his unique talents back to the stage of The Renaissance Center for a Nov. 15 performance. Tickets for the 3 p.m. show are $5 for adults and $2 for seniors.

The concert will be videotaped by The Renaissance Center’s award-winning Multimedia Department for broadcast on the Renaissance Channel (Comcast 19 in Dickson).

A resident of Claylick in eastern Dickson County, Woodland is an adjunct instructor of harmonica at The Renaissance Center when he isn’t on the road performing or competing. He has won state titles in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Illinois.

He has played with Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson and the Nashville Bluegrass Band.

In addition to his concert on Nov. 15, Woodland will conduct three harmonica workshops that day at The Renaissance Center.

Harmonica for the Absolute Beginner will be 9-10 a.m. and tuition is $30.

Rainbow Harmonica Method, a simple, three-step process of learning the harmonica will be 10:30-11:30 a.m. and tuition is $40 per person or $60 for an adult and one child under 13.

A Blues Harmonica workshop will be 12:30-1:30 p.m. and tuition is $30.

Woodland has been playing harmonica for more than 25 years, ever since he got his first one from a high school buddy while Glenn was confined to the hospital in traction for eight weeks.

“A lot of the guys used to play,” he said. “It was the thing to do and I had a lot of time to fill. We used to take half-hour bus rides to and from school and play in the back of the bus. I haven’t put it down since.”

A native of Cape May, N.J., Woodland moved to Tennessee in 1982 to be closer to the heart of his music, wanting to learn from the best harp players Nashville had to offer.

“I was making a living back home playing the clubs and that kind of thing and I just wanted to go a little but further,” he said. “The only way to get better is to be around people that are better than you, so I came here.”

He has played with symphonies, at festivals and competitions, winning virtually all of them. He was involved in a four-hour documentary about Appalachian music, plays in Branson, Mo., and has been featured at the Museum of Appalachia and the 2003 Big Muddy Folk Festival in Boonville, Mo.

“His seamless playing is only exceeded by his great tone that produces some of the most evocative harmonica playing heard in recent time,” writes Phil Lloyd, contributing editor for American Harmonica Newsmagazine.

Woodland strides on stage with a leather belt packed with 12 diatonic harmonicas, one for each key. His unique style of playing is an advanced technique called overblowing, which allows him to play a chromatic scale on a diatonic harmonica, a feat thought to have been virtually impossible.

He even wears a miniature harmonica around his neck, which he places into his mouth and plays without using his hands.

Woodland’s repertoire includes everything from traditional and modern bluegrass, gospel and country, to comedic pieces and classical music.

His CDs include Wayfaring Stranger, a collection of classic instrumental gospel hymns, and Wailin Wood - The Collection, which ranges from classic harmonica toe-tappers to the Irish sounds of a Celtic jig.

For more information on Glenn Woodland, visit his Web site at www.wailinwood.com. To hear some of his music, visit www.michaelshull.com/wwood.htm. For more information on Woodland’s workshops, classes or concert at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600. The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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