× Donovan Woods brings "Big Hurt Boy" over to the Netherlands next month

Donovan Woods brings "Big Hurt Boy" over to the Netherlands next month

11-10-2022

Donovan Woods was in on the joke when he named his latest release. Riffing on a lyric from a Martin Simpson song (“Never Any Good”), Big Hurt Boy is a six-song exploration of how our failures — and our fixations on them — not only shape but enlighten us.

“I write about them again and again, just hoping people will still be interested,” the acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter says. “So the title is poking fun of myself, that I’m theoretically this big sad guy who keeps getting dumped and writing fucking songs about it.”

Or you could think of it this way: Woods’ deep curiosity about the human condition is why we so clearly hear our own stories in his. The details differ, the characters change, but at their core, Donovan Woods songs are for and about everyone. That’s particularly apparent on his new EP, which was released March 18, 2022. Trying to capture more of an “undone” quality, Woods wanted his latest songs to “get back to the feeling that my early recordings had.” You hear that in the spare, subtle ache of “No Time Soon,” an acoustic monologue Woods describes as “the story of my whole life.”

Donovan Woods is touring with Aoife O'Donovan next month and has added a festival show too:

05/11: Groningen, NL - Take Root
07/11: Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg ^

^ with Aoife O'Donovan

Related artist: Donovan Woods back