Alex Woodard wasn't quite ready for what he was about to read as he scrolled through his e-mail. The 36-year-old Leucadia-based singer-songwriter made a pledge to write a song for anyone who pre-ordered online his self-titled album, which officially was released Aug. 19 on Woodshack Music.
As he paged down, in and among the requests for songs about guys' wives, their trucks and drinking, Woodard came across one particularly emotional e-mail.
"It came from a guy who married the widow of an Oceanside police officer who was gunned down and was helping to raise their child," Woodard said. "He was telling me about the tragedy. It got really emotional. He was so honest about what he was going through. It was really heavy. I knew that story. And I'm going to write something about that."
Heavy, indeed. But judging from Woodard's new 11-song album, he's up to the task. His songwriting has drawn comparisons to Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen, Jim Croce and Texas troubadour Rodney Crowell.
Despite Woodard's laid-back surf-first, work-later attitude ---- come on, the guy lives west of Coast Highway 101 in North County's funkiest community ---- his songs strike a Mellencamp-esque America's-heartland chord, rather than being beachy, breezy singalongs.
"This is really cool, though," Woodard said. "It's so special. People are letting me into their lives and trusting me to tell their story."
Certainly it's fodder for future records. Woodard will be in town for most of this month and is scheduled to play Oceanside's Harbor Days on Sept. 21. He hits the road hard in October and purposely didn't book anything in November to concentrate on the new batch of songs.
"I need to give these songs the time they deserve," Woodard said. "It's a deep part of people's lives. It's real people's stories."
Woodard said he'll write and record the songs acoustically "at my kitchen table," he adds, where he also wrote and recorded portions of the new album, which includes Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins on the song "Reno."
Since he started looking through the e-mails in late August, he was unsure just how many songs he is committed to writing.The origins of the promotion are a little fuzzy, said the Long Beach native and UCLA grad.
"It's hard to find things that haven't been done a lot," Woodard said. "This idea offered a more personal connection for me, which seems to have gotten lost these days in songwriting. It just evolved into this."
Woodard received a boost when Alison Bonaguro blogged on CMT.com about his order-a-CD-get-a-song plan. Titled "Alex Woodard Will Write a Song for You," it's apparent that Bonaguro was impressed with the results: "He is one of those singers who has the voice for this. Part haunting Gary Allan, part gritty Keith Urban and part storytelling John Mellencamp. So whether he writes you a brooding ballad about lost love or an up-tempo party song because you're about to turn 29, again, somehow it works."
Woodard recalls the initial exchange between Bonaguro and his publicist.
"If he writes something about me, I'll consider writing about him," Woodard said. "It took me about 10 minutes to write and record it. I didn’t have much time. So I sent it to her. She thought it could have been gimmicky. But what I gave her back wasn't."
Just like a good song tells a story, Woodard's career is something of a lyrical adventure, too. He cut his teeth in post-grunge-era Seattle, where he released his first album, "Nowhere Near Here," in 2000. Two years later ---- and with another album under his belt, "Saturn Returns" ---- Woodard sought any excuse to leave the Northwest.
His bassist had moved to coastal North County to work for the Encinitas sports apparel maker Nixon USA and invited him down for a visit.
"I'd grown up surfing Trestles, but never really spent any time in San Diego," Woodard recalled. "I was amazed by Leucadia. It was a throwback. It was such a cool place where everyone knows everyone."
Now, he surfs right in front of his house at Beacons and Grandview. Singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins picked up on the vibe, too, while visiting Woodard after the pair had toured together.
"He stayed at the house with me," Woodard said. "He told me, 'I love where I live, but if I lived here, I wouldn't leave.' "
Woodard said he doesn't mind the inevitable comparisons to fellow singer-songwriter-surfer Jack Johnson. But even though they share a similar love for the ocean and play music, that's where the comparisons largely end, he said.
"He's brought that (surf lifestyle) community to a lot of folks," he says of Johnson, who recently performed at the cavernous Cricket Amphitheatre. "Jack's more of a groove, G-Love style. I'm more of a Mellencamp deal. My music doesn't equate with the surf lifestyle. Jack is bonfire-type lifestyle; me, I relate more to a heartland lifestyle. We come from two different spots."
The influences in Woodard's songs are obvious: Jackson Browne, Petty, Mellencamp and even Neil Diamond. Yet Woodard added that as grunge came and went, he listened to that. Now, he's on a country music kick --- classic and contemporary.
"Lyrics have always resonated with me," he said. "I come from different takes on what it means to be here and living; talk about growing up, the joys and troubles of life --- uniquely American stories. I respect the art of songwriting so much. I still have a lot to learn, but I love what I do."
