What is “woodshedding”? I’ve thought of woodshedding as the act of heading out for solitude and time to learn/practice your chops with a musical instrument or work on a novel. At the bottom of this post, I’ll include a link to a great article about the history of woodshedding by Matt Debenham.
Seagulls float in the air and cry out a haunting sound like some mammals. It’s not surprising that we romanticize and symbolize them in the arts. PJ Johnson wrote “Seagull” in the late 1960s while traveling across Morocco on a motorcycle… woodshedding. I camped in Gibraltar and met up with him months later in front of the Portsmith post office at noon on a prearranged date. Well, actually we had intended to meet up …but the actual meeting was a few days later.
My first husband, PJ Johnson, was a folk musician and jazz bassist when we met in Houston Texas. We ran with the Texas songwriter tribe…a wild, hairy, and inspiring family of friends.
We often “split up” to “woodshed” on our music and songwriting. Each of us was driven to find that next chord, expression, or chorus to elevate our descriptions of the moments we lived. “Seagull” was salvaged from rehearsal tapes made 50 years ago, spiced and seasoned by Rush Beesley in 2022… and released to folk radio this Aug 16. RAW, SPICED, and SEASONED by Crow Johnson Evans. (listen here or hear the complete recording at https://crowjohnson.bandcamp.com/album/raw-spiced-and-seasoned
Interesting post, Crow, and well-written. Although I’ve always understood woodshedding to have a wholly different definition, and very specific, meaning than what you describe here, I certainly do the practice you describe- the solitude required, the periods of focused self-isolation. In a sense this is the essence of what colonies like The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow offer: focus, uninterrupted.
Solitude… yes. So glad you “get it” and started the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow.
Like Crescent, my understanding of woodshedding was in the context of political background checking. Nice to see your different use.
Wikipedia says “ The term woodshedding, like the term “axe” (slang for your musical instrument), evokes images of rural, rootsy beginnings. It is a reminder, conscious or not, of the deep roots jazz has in the blues, gospel, and the merging of African and European musical traditions under slavery.”