Til They Bang on the Door marks Lucy Woodward’s long-awaited solo return, her first album in six years. Woodward’s debut release on GroundUP Music — the breakthrough indie label started by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League — features an all-star recording cast, including co-producer/keyboardist Henry Hey (David Bowie, George Michael), engineer/mixer Nic Hard, organist Cory Henry, core musicians from Snarky Puppy, and League himself.
The daughter of two classical musicians, Woodward spent her childhood, as she puts it,“music-making and creating.”Fresh out of school, she was singing jazz on Bleecker St. for tips, singing in cover bands and writing songs before signing with Atlantic Records—a time period that saw her score a Top 40 hit with “Dumb Girls” and another Top 5 hit she wrote for Stacie Orrico called “(There’s Gotta Be) More to Life.”
But Woodward had no desire to be a pop starlet: her follow-up, the jazzier Lucy Woodward is…Hot and Bothered, produced by Itaal Shur (Santana, Maxwell) and Tim K (Tiny Hearts) was released in a unique indie arrangement with Barnes and Noble. This, in turn, was followed by Hooked!, an album of Brill Building meets swing- styled songs, released on Verve — which coincidentally distributes the GroundUP label — and produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex).
In addition to her solo career, Woodward has recorded with Rod Stewart, Chaka Khan, Celine Dion, Carole King, Snarky Puppy and Joe Cocker, and has toured as a band member filling in for the lead singer of Pink Martini. Her songs and vocals have been heard in movies including What a Girl Wants, The Blind Side, Music and Lyrics, First Daughter and Ice Princess.