The Steel Woods

A foursome of Nashville-based traditionalists steeped in Southern rock, the Steel Woods stake their claim to the musical territory first mapped by Lynyrd Skynyrd. They fuse the weight of blues-rock with lyrical Southern imagery while folding in the direct language of outlaw country, a blend already audible on their debut Straw in the Wind in 2017 and its 2019 follow-up Old News. Two years after that sophomore release, they issued All of Your Stones on their own Woods Music imprint through Thirty Tigers; the album marked the final studio recording to include founding guitarist Jason Cope, who died in January 2021. Another two years on, the band returned with the semi-conceptual On Your Time.

Before the Steel Woods existed, guitarists Wes Bayliss and Jason “Rowdy” Cope were each chasing separate careers. Cope had established himself as a session player and had toured with Jamey Johnson when he and Bayliss crossed paths at a Nashville show. The two quickly formed a bond, began writing together, and completed the lineup with bassist Johnny Stanton and drummer Jay Tooke. Their self-titled EP surfaced in 2016, followed the next year by Straw in the Wind on Thirty Tigers/Woods Music. In December 2018 they unveiled a cover of Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents” as the opening track of their second album, Old News. Cope’s death on January 16, 2021, came after the group had finished tracking its third LP; that record, All of Your Stones, appeared that May and featured the uplifting title track he co-wrote. Continuing the narrative thread begun on their first album, 2023’s On Your Time brought back the character Uncle Lloyd, who had first surfaced on Straw in the Wind. Anchored in muscular yet reflective Southern rock and the storytelling tradition of classic troubadour country, the ten-song collection—highlighted by the singles “Devil in this Holler” and “If Not for the Rain”—displayed the band’s endurance, narrative skill, and instrumental command.