The Steel Woods

The Steel Woods

The Steel Woods are an americana, country and southern rock group from Nashville, Tennessee, active from 2016 to 2024. The band is made up of Wes Bayliss, Jason Cope and Jay Tooke.

Formation and lineup

The Steel Woods are cofounded by Wes Bayliss and Jason “Rowdy” Cope. Bayliss sings lead and plays multiple instruments, and Cope serves as lead guitarist, songwriter and co-producer. Bayliss grows up in Woodland, Alabama, where he plays in his family’s gospel band and learns harmonica, mandolin and guitar before moving to Mobile in 2007. Cope starts guitar at 11 in Asheville, North Carolina, later works as a musician in Los Angeles, then moves to Nashville in 2007 and joins Jamey Johnson’s band.

Career

In his nine years with Jamey Johnson, Cope co-writes “Can’t Cash My Checks” and contributes to the Grammy-nominated albums That Lonesome Song and The Guitar Song. In the early days of The Steel Woods, Bayliss and Cope spend time fishing and writing material that becomes the group’s first studio album, Straw in the Wind.

The band cites Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Led Zeppelin among its influences, and tours in support of artists including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dwight Yoakam, Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, Miranda Lambert and Blackberry Smoke. It also tours with Cody Johnson, Whiskey Myers and other Southern rock acts.

Albums

Straw in the Wind is released in 2017 on Thirty Tigers/Woods Music and features a guest vocal by Lindi Ortega, with Brent Cobb credited as a songwriter. The album reaches number 42 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart. The second album, Old News, is recorded in Asheville at the site of an old church and released in 2019. The third album, All of Your Stones, follows in 2021.

Later years

Cope dies in January 2021. In 2024, Wes Bayliss announces that the band will end after a final United States tour, and a planned autumn 2024 UK and European tour with Blackberry Smoke is cancelled.