Tom Woodward Releases The 2nd Single From His Forthcoming New Album

Scoop

09-07-2025

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 EPs for the last two decades.
With an enviable cache of songs that document his thoughts and experiences, he's already lived a fascinating life. Tom honed his craft in the thriving arts & music scene of Canberra and Melbourne in the mid-2000s before taking his original songs to audiences around Australia, Japan, and the USA.
In 2023, Tom put down the guitar and embarked on a two month walk up the east coast of Australia, ending with a hospital stay and a hard-earned respect for the fragility of life. A year and a half later, he got deported as an illegal alien from the USA.
Tom's first single from his forthcoming new album was the lively rhythmic bounce and Dylan-esque ' Termination Day ', a raised middle finger to the forces of tech feudalism and economic totalitarianism as they attempt to imprison our souls.
Now, following a successful run of shows through VIC, NSW, and ACT, with his band The True Delusions, Tom releases single #2, the hypnotic folk meets indie rock sound of ' If You Wanna Stay Alive ', which premiered on Vital Bits on 3RRR. An opening filigree of fingerpicked guitar gives way to a weightier mood, bolstered by warm bass and dissonant electric guitar chords.
The song is about survival, as Tom explains. " It's about how when you're broke and you want to stay alive you have to be dishonest. You lie on housing applications. You lie about how passionately you want to work at Woolworths. You lie just to keep breathing in an entire system that is built on bullshit. There's also a silver lining in all this subterfuge: if you survive long enough, you might just get surprised by a glimmer of love and humanity, glistening like an island in the mirage."
Tom's mid-2010s album Beautiful Shadows received critical acclaim in publications such as For Folk's Sake and The Huffington Post and earned him a Canberra Critics Circle award. He has performed at the National Folk Festival, The Multicultural Fringe Festival, and racked up for supports for such luminaries as Abbe May, The Drones, Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen, Cash Savage & the Last Drinks, Machine Translations, Steve Poltz, and many more.
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 by a sardonic and hilarious God, Tom's been laughing, crying, and singing about it ever since.