Who Is SongWood?

SongWood is the brainchild of John McGaraghan, long time singer, songwriter, band leader and all around musician in the San Francisco Bay and San Diego areas. During the late 80's he began writing songs playing with Unbroken Chain. Later in the 90's he co-founded Oversoul, and continued writing and playing. After having spent years from junior high and beyond recording songs on 4-track recorders, John's interest in engineering more and better recordings of his and other people's songs grew. While a member of Oversoul, John produced and recorded 1 EP and 3 full length album releases, and assisted a variety of other musicians with live and studio recording. After leaving Oversoul, John graduated to some bigger and better equipment, and cut his teeth on some more intensive recordings during sessions with Hot Buttered Rum, King Harvest, and Sfunk, to say nothing of the miles of tape he rolled during solo sessions and informal sessions with friends. These days, John plays and records mandolin and sings with bay area bluegrass/old-timey/folk band The Skinny.

As the desire to hear songs artfully crafted into recordings grew, John simply began to collect instruments, amps, mics, mixers, tape decks, stomp boxes, computers, outboard gear, and anything else that could get him closer to getting all the sounds he wanted to hear coming out of the speakers (see what we use). At one point during a particularly bad bout of writers' block, it ocurred to him that all this great equipment and all the expertise and creative energy should not go to waste! It was time to open up to the public.

Well, kind of. Read about How We Do It.