In 2020, Donovan Woods released ‘Without People’ via his own Meant Well label. It’s an album that ranks as Woods’ most successful release with more than 10 million streams and climbing. Today, a new deluxe edition of ‘Without People’ adds four bonus tracks (two new originals and two alternate mixes). Listen HERE.
The Deluxe album includes a song that fans have been craving since the ‘Without People’ album was released — a full version of the radio-ready interlude “When The Party’s Over,” written with Tom Douglas (John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert) and Travis Wood (Mickey Guyton, Kelleigh Bannen, James Barker Band). It also boasts the never-before-heard song “Break Somebody’s Heart,” which is storytelling at its finest, honing in on specific small town life moments that teach greater lessons of love and loss.
“Grew Apart,” a song that Woods recorded solo and with country artist Logan Mize has accumulated over 15 million streams, gets a haunting piano rendition on the deluxe edition, cutting right to the bone. Then an acoustic interpretation of “Whatever Keeps You Going” pairs Woods with the pure voices of the J.P. Robarts Public School Music Project in London, Canada.
“This deluxe version is really in place of what live shows might’ve been like if the pandemic hadn’t happened,” says Woods.“Among my favourite parts of playing live are presenting songs in a different context and introducing new material, and this deluxe version is doing that type of work.”
Woods also launches today his new interactive website www.Without-People.com
For an album made so piecemeal, ‘Without People’ (2020) was listed in the Top 50 albums of 2020 by The Line of Best Fit, and has been acclaimed as “strikes a gentle, poignant note” (Billboard), “a nuanced experience” (American Songwriter) and a thoughtful exploration of ““fleeting interpersonal moments now under the microscope” (NPR/KUTX) and “various aspects of human connection” (Rolling Stone).
