"You gotta check this cat out" That's the way one of my keyboard playing friends approached me one day. "What cat" I said. "This cat Woody Washington, I played with him last night at Mr. B's and he was great!" I said "Oh yeah what does he do that's so great", "Well" he continued " I'll tell you this much, I ain't never seen nothing like him. He can play any sound, any instrument you want to hear through this special guitar called a MIDI guitar. Plus he is just a fantastic player, really a master of his instrument." Needless to say I had to check this guy out and when I did I was amazed. Not only was he a talented guitarist but he could sing as well as write songs in almost any idiom. Finally, somebody as good as all the hype. By the way my keyboardist friend is not usually so effusive or prone to hyperbole. And neither am I but here it goes: Woody Washington is the best thing to come out of Detroit since Motown! His sound comes from years in the recesses of the music industry. Woody has played in pit orchestras in Las Vegas at the Riviera Hotel and other famous Vegas landmarks. He has played with the likes of Ray Charles, Dorothy Moore and Millie Jackson. Woody has also opened for Anita Baker, The Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" tour, Melissa Etheridge, Smokey Robinson, Earth Wind and Fire, Jefferson Starship, Barry White and Chante Moore, The Motown Greats Tour including the Temptations, The Four Tops and The Spinners. Woody has played many large venues in the southeastern Michigan area. Venues like the large outdoor amphitheater Pine Knob and the premier indoor arena the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons. He has also played for corporations as varied as Chrysler and The Detroit Institute of Arts. He is always appropriate for whatever the venue. Woody's amazing talent can be heard whether he is playing acoustic guitar as a strolling minstrel at a restaurant, as an acoustic accompaniment to dinner during your companies next retreat, or with his band belting out his originals or covers of classic R&B and Jazz tunes. Woody is truly a Renaissance man among musicians. Now stepping out the shadows on his own and revealing an astounding talent for writing songs with great musical lines, that not only attract you on a toe tapping level but, whose lyrics speak to you on a cognitive and unconscious level. Check out some of the original music Woody is producing. The raucous joyously liberating "Set Me Free", an anthem of freedom for all those trapped in a suffocating relationship. Check out the horns and the way they "tell off" the antagonist in the portrayal. The realism of the words are unmistakable, you've probably used them (or would like to) in an argument. "Belle Isle" is an ode to the largest City Park in America, Belle Isle in Detroit (yes it's even larger than New York Cities Central Park). "Belle Isle" is where countless loves have been started, where families gather for reunions and picnics, children discover the world through outdoor activities and yes even a heard of deer live there. The Jazzy "Toronto Nights" was inspired by a recent trip to the very cosmopolitan city on Lake Ontario. While you listen to these tunes think to yourself "this guy is an unknown? wow" well I can tell you something, that won't last long. Woody's popularity and fame will only grow as his original music is heard, felt and appreciated. I know this to be true!