Island fiddler Richard Wood is back with a new album

Richard Wood was struggling. His father had recently passed away and for a while he didn't know if he wanted to continue playing music.

Then he embarked on a series of gigs at seniors' homes and saw life from a different perspective. Some of the residents told him stories about him as a child. 

And then he knew he couldn't give up the fiddle.

"Because of the joy and the happiness that it brings so many people," Wood said. "It's not angry music. This is joyous and happy music — spiritual in a way."

'I've never been happier'

Now, Wood has released his eighth album, Unbroken, which has some influences from his personal and family journey, he told Mainstreet P.E.I. guest-host Kerry Campbell.

"It's probably some of my best work. I think it ties in to where I'm at in my headspace and where I'm at in my life, and I've never been happier," Wood said.

"I'm back with my beautiful lady Faye [Williams]," he said, and improved his relationships with his brother and sister-in-law.

"With that being said, it won't be broken and our close-knit family is closer together."

P.E.I. musicians unite 

The title track, Will the Circle be Unbroken, was a collaboration of Wood, Williams, co-producer Gordon Belsher and 17 other P.E.I. musicians, vocalists and songwriters.

The inspiration for the project came from the super-group charity single We Are The World, he said.

Over a career that has seen Wood play Carnegie Hall with The Chieftains, appear on the David Letterman Show with Shania Twain, and play for Good Morning America, one thing stands out for Wood now — balance.

'It's not an easy road'

Wood, 40, has been doing this since he was seven. The road makes it tough to keep the right balance between your music and your family, he said.

"It's a lot of playing, a lot of gigging, a lot of touring, a lot of everything," he said.

"It's not an easy road, and being a Buddhist like I am, there's a lot of different areas where you have to pick and choose in your life and everything has to work in balance ... that's a hard thing to try to accomplish and juggle, because there is a lot of ups and downs."

'This one here is very unique'

Unbroken includes a whole page of dedications to Wood's family.

Another track, Ceilidh Funk, was composed by Scottish folk musician Phil Cunningham. Wood took it in a different direction and added some funk, he said.

"I don't want every album to sound like the last album. This one here is very unique, it's very different."

Album mastered by Bob Ludwig

Legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, whose studio is in Portland, Maine, did the mastering for the album himself.

"He could've given it to one of his other people. He took it on himself. That's quite an honour and we were very blessed to have him do that," Wood said.

"I'm so very proud of this album. Very, very happy with it. I can't wait for more people to hear it."

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