Tom Woodward challenges your senses with Phoney Messiah
By Alan Shipston for Country Music News International Magazine
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 Ep’s for the last two decades. With an enviable cache of songs that document his thoughts and experiences from a fascinating life, Tom honed his craft in the thriving arts and music scene of Canberra and Melbourne in the mid 2000’s before taking his original songs to audiences around Australia, Japan and the USA.
Phoney Messiah, from Tom’s forthcoming album, Come, Come, Karma begins with a gentle acoustic guitar playing a 5 – 4 – 3 minor progression with accents that confront the ear to guess if this is diatonic or not. Suddenly the track rages with distorted electric guitars, pulsing bass and a drum track that veers between straight ahead indie rock and march time. “You don’t live on the streets anymore son, by the seat of your pants, you just made up your own religion, and put the world in a trance,” sings a vibrato infused Woodward. It’s a shape shifting song with dynamics and tempo in perpetual motion as Tom intones of our dizzying world full of false gods and gullible devotees in the chorus, “Cause I need a phony messiah I can understand, cause I know pathological liars like the back of my hand.”
Tom Woodward wrote the words and music and shared instrumental duties with Adam Casey. Backup vocals are provided by Katie Walsh while Casey produced the track also handling the engineering, mixing and mastering. “The song inverts the concept of all wisdom, identity and nationality by presenting the hellish adulation of gurus and demagogues and the hopeless longing of humankind for some kind of philosophical speed ball to make everything OK,” Woodward explains. 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.
“You don’t give to the bums anymore son, they ain’t up to the task, you don’t get on your own two back feet, drinking goon from a cask,” starts the second verse by way of a rhythmic turnaround. This reinforces the diverse and assorted lyrical approach he takes to interlace painful certainty with a casual street wise ambience. Country Music News International reviewed a previous work by Woodward and had this to say, “It’s a hypnotic journey that grapples with the uncomfortable truths of survival,” while the Huffington Post reported, “Woodward has a knack for lyrics that range from bemused to outright amusing. Listen carefully to the words because they frame the music rather than the music framing the words.”
This Australian folk noir and gothic country sculptor is sure to raise a few eyebrows and grab your full attention with Phoney Messiah. As the lead off single, all signs point to a hugely promising new Tom Woodward album set for release early in 2026.