Bio 

        These three accomplished musicians came together through family ties and Covid to become a musical force. 

The Hardwoods are: 

     Jon B.Woodin--an accomplished musician rooted in celtic music, and beautiful virtuoso guitar work, punctuated by his signature voice. 

     David Woodin--a classically trained violinist, and newly EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) enthusiast.  David is also Jon's dad, who taught him his first 3 chords on the guitar.

     Janice Hardgrove--a seasoned vocalist/instrumentalist, with over a decade's long list of national TV jingles under her belt.

    

       The trio grew out of the Covid lockdown.  All three were missing singing and playing music, and the lockdown gave Dave an opportunity to work on his EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument),  Janice on her tenor guitar, and Jon on writing more original compositions. What resulted was The Hardwoods!  --- a trio with tight harmonies and a fun, heartfelt mix of songs, tunes and original compositions.                     

       Where did the name The Hardwoods come from??  I'm sure you can figure that out on your own--a blending of both of our names, and not a nod to sawing wood :-).   Jon and Dave both insist that they were the one that came up with the name! 

       Janice Hardgrove is a singer/songwriter whose earliest musical memories are singing harmony at the age of 4 with her grandfather on standards like "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Red, Red Robin."  She plays tenor guitar and bass in The Hardwoods. But piano was her first instrument, it's just so heavy to carry around!  And mandolin was her primary instrument when she toured with The Dharma Bums, around the world-twice!  She was a professional jingle singer, singing national TV commercials for Burger King, Diet Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, AT&T, Pillsbury, Sheraton, Big Red Gum and on and on, for over a decade. And she co-owned, the 24 track recording studio '"London by Night Productions." She currently owns the very popular cupcake shop, Peace Love & Cupcakes in Woodstock, NY.   And, she won two Food Network competitions, including one for "The Best Cake in the Country!" There's a Pillsbury Bake-Off runner-up win too! Janice is honored to have one of her original songs, Chamomile Flowers  archived in the Smithsonian.    In addition, she won two International Billboard Songwriting Awards.  She has one album of her original songs out entitled A Simple Heart with Timothy E, Pitt, and is currently working on her next album entitled Saturday Morning Songs. 

      David Woodin grew up with a dual interest in physics and music, so much so that he majored in both while in college.  A lifelong musician, he is a classically trained violinist, with a newfound fondness for Irish fiddle tunes. In 2008 he founded, and for nearly ten years conducted the Catskill Chamber Orchestra,  later playing violin and viola with its offshoot chamber group, the Hearts Content Ensemble.  His original orchestral work "A Hudson Journey", and his "Quartet in C" have been featured at Catskill’s Beattie Powers House performed by the Catskill Chamber Orchestra in conjunction with the Evander String Quartet, graduates of the Eastman School of Music.  To the Hardwoods, Dave brings his Yamaha electric fiddle, and his recently acquired electronic wind instrument, the AKAI EWI 5000, thus adding sax, clarinet and flute accompaniment and solos to the Hardwoods' repertoire.  Prior to helping to form The Hardwoods, he and son Jon have performed locally as a duo, The Woodin Boys.  When he’s not composing, performing or practicing, he somehow finds the time to run his legal software business and appellate law practice.

Jon B. Woodin has been a musician and an on-stage performer ever since he was a child, commencing with appearances in a long list of musical productions at the MacHaydn Theater in Chatham, New York.  A cello student for over ten years, he performed regularly on cello and upright bass with the Hearts Content Ensemble together with his dad and also his mom, the fabulously talented (and always remembered) flautest, Margo Byron. He is a virtuoso guitarist and singer/songwriter with hauntingly beautiful original ballads as well as many memorable and catchy up-tempo songs. A multi-instrumentalist, along with his guitar and bass skills that he brings to The Hardwoods, Jon plays percussion, concertina and pennywhistle. He is also a member of the Dust Bowl Fairies..