Tom Woodward Releases The 3rd Single From His Forthcoming New Album

12 September 2025

Tom Woodward has been writing and releasing his unique brand of baroque folk-rock, cosmic country psychedelia, and fuzzed-out lo-fi gems on numerous albums and EPs for the last two decades.

With an enviable cache of songs that document his thoughts and experiences, he's already lived a fascinating life. Tom honed his craft in the thriving arts & music scene of Canberra and Melbourne in the mid-2000s before taking his original songs to audiences around Australia, Japan, and the USA.

In 2023, Tom put down the guitar and embarked on a two month walk up the east coast of Australia, ending with a hospital stay and a hard-earned respect for the fragility of life. A year and a half later, he got deported as an illegal alien from the USA.

The third taste of Tom's forthcoming new album is 'Sails In Your Heart', which premiered on Stuart Coupe's nationally syndicated 2SER radio show Dirt Music.

A song about the price you have to pay to live an uncompromising life, it was written in a share-house in the Canberra winter of 2019, and survived multiple edits and changes before Melbourne producer Adam Casey nailed the definitive result in early 2025 – working with Woodward to build a banging country rock soundscape. The rhythmic groove drives home the theme of staring down despair in the face, while Woodward’s plaintive lyrics and melodic delivery bob and weave throughout the musical fray.

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The first single from the new album was the lively rhythmic bounce and Dylan-esque 'Termination Day', a raised middle finger to the forces of tech feudalism and economic totalitarianism as they attempt to imprison our souls.

Following a successful run of shows through VIC, NSW, and ACT, with his band The True Delusions, Tom followed it up with the hypnotic folk meets indie rock sound of 'If You Wanna Stay Alive', a song about survival, as Tom explains. "You lie just to keep breathing in an entire system that is built on bullshit. There's also a silver lining in all this subterfuge: if you survive long enough, you might just get surprised by a glimmer of love and humanity, glistening like an island in the mirage."

Tom's mid-2010s album Beautiful Shadows received critical acclaim in publications such as For Folk's Sake and The Huffington Post and earned him a Canberra Critics Circle award. He has performed at the National Folk Festival, The Multicultural Fringe Festival, and racked up for supports for such luminaries as Abbe May, The Drones, Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen, Cash Savage & the Last Drinks, Machine Translations, Steve Poltz, and many more.

Tom's eclectic musicality and creative work ethic are proof he's in it for the long haul. Having been sentenced to a wandering life by a sardonic and hilarious God, Tom's been laughing, crying, and singing about it ever since.

SINGLE CREDITS

Tom Woodward: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitar

Adam Casey: Drums, electric guitar, keys

Katie Walsh: Backing vocals

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