Lody Aeckerlin
Woody Veneman is now.
In a career spanning over more than two decades, Eindhoven-based singer-songwriter, composer and designer Woody Veneman released dozens of albums with bands, duos and one-off ensembles across an astonishing range of genres. From dark folk and analog techno to Dutch torch songs, minimalist lo-fi, tragically romantic country and sinister disco. He performed at major festivals, in intimate basements, smoky bars, shady strip joints and prestigious museums.
Lisa Gritter, 2025
It’s the early nineties when his father puts on a Bob Dylan record in their home in working class neighborhood Woensel-West in Eindhoven. The young Woody is mesmerized. As a teenager, he learns Dylan’s songs by heart and fills cassette tapes with his best imitations. His fascination with Dylan grows into a love of songs — strong songs about love, injustice, life, and death.
In 2004, at the height of Eindhoven Rockcity, when harder is better was the credo, Veneman and Paul van Hulten formed the acoustic folk duo Woody & Paul. In the span of 8 years the duo released six albums, played international tours, and took a joint adventure with the all-star ensemble Beukorkest.
A small testament to Veneman’s boundless creativity, driven by the urge to create and explore what has yet to exist: “There’s always something you haven’t made yet.”
Woody & Paul, 2007
Determined to break his aversion to electronic music, Veneman went on to found S.T. Cordell, a six-piece band delivering driving, avant-garde, fully analog techno. Their explosive live sets stirred dancefloors at festivals such as Rewire and Welcome to the Village. He formed the tragically romantic country duo Polly & Bruce with actress Sanne Samina Hanssen, created the musical design project The Singing Chair — exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York — and, after a 12-year hiatus, released the very long-awaited seventh Woody & Paul album in 2023.
S.T. Cordell, 2016 / Oscar Anjewierden
In 2024, Veneman concluded a four-year residency, telling stories and performing songs by his heroes as Woody Sings, at De Effenaar and music café De Rozenknop.
After twenty years of songwriting, it is time for Veneman himself — his own songs, his own work. Pure and unfiltered.
Woody Sings, 2019 / Johan Horst
Collaboration, however, runs in his blood. With drummer Lola Heijdt and bassist Joni Houtman, he performs his own songs in trio as Woody & The Nine Wives. Together with electronic music pioneer Truus de Groot, he forms Veneman en de Groot, a duo that fuses the quintessential Dutch smartlappen with the iconic analog Casio sound creating bittersweet neo torch songs.
With seemingly endless creativity and an unstoppable urge to create, twenty years is only the beginning for Woody Veneman.
Stay tuned.