Balancing jobs brings music to others’ ears
Executive Q&A with Jeff Wood

BY Jack Money

Published: October 5, 2008

Oklahoma’s a long way from Los Angeles — and Nashville, Tenn.

And that’s the way Jeff Wood likes it.

Wood, who works as co-director of Bronco Drilling’s Health, Safety and Environmental Department, once felt as if Nashville were the place to be.

Today, he’s happy to be back in Oklahoma. But he still pursues his passion for writing and performing music when he’s not on the job, and just launched his own Internet-based record label.

Wood recently visited with The Oklahoman about his two careers. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation:

Q: What can you tell me about your job with Bronco?

A: I started out in the industry in the exploration and production business. Here at Bronco Drilling, I worked with our trucking company, Clydesdale, and ended up contracting the sale of drilling services for the company. When we sell a rig at Bronco, we are contracting rigs and all of their components to go do a job. At the site, we provide the equipment and personnel to operate it. But just in the past year, I have moved over into the safety department, which is a very important component of the company’s operations. When you want to get the good contracts with the big companies, one of the first questions they will ask you is, ‘Tell us about your safety department.’

Q: Does your family have a background in the oil and natural gas industry?

A: I grew up on a cattle ranch near Morris, kind of close to Okmulgee. But my dad, who was a rancher, got into the oil and natural gas business during the early 1980s. After starting his career as a consultant, he ran two midsize exploration and production companies and the Fort Cobb Fuel Authority, the state’s first natural gas filling station. The authority also served a lot of the area’s small towns’ and farmers’ needs for natural gas. He is probably the best people person and mediator that I know. Today, he is my boss, Frank Harrison, chief executive officer of Bronco Drilling. He was hired by the company’s board to take it public. At the time, we had eight rigs. And the rest is history. I am proud of my Dad and what he has accomplished.

Q: How long has writing and performing music been a part of your life?

A: I’ve been a performer since I was seven years old. When I was in college, I took over Garth Brooks’ gig at Willie’s Saloon. After that, I went to Nashville, and I met with Garth, and I told him this is what I want to do. He would take me around and introduce me, and tell folks I wanted to write songs. I did, but I wanted to sing and be on videos too. I was clueless, because to really get your foot in the door, you have to be a good writer in Nashville. So I came home with my tail between my legs, wondering what I was going to do.

Some friends talked me into going to law school. But at the same time, I wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote and wrote music and songs, and cut an album, which got me noticed by a national scout. When I started my third year, my house was broken into and someone stole everything that I owned. I got this check from the insurance company, and said, "I don’t need new clothes or a new TV.”

Garth had told me I needed to move to Nashville. So I did. My best buddy and I moved there, and I didn’t tell a soul. I called my parents from Nashville, and said, ‘I’ve quit law school, and I am going to be a song writer.’ They thought I’d lost my mind. But I did it, and I did it for 11 years, touring the country, and was an artist who had a few hit songs. So I was blessed to do a lot of really cool things. But I feel just as fortunate to be doing what I am doing now.

Q: You said our request to visit with you came at an opportune time. Why?

A: I still write full-time, and still make a partial living writing songs, because the world has become flat, in my opinion, and I think record labels are going to be obsolete in about five years. So I am launching Jeffwoodrecords.com this month.

Q: Where did you come up with that idea?

A: In today’s world, if you have a product and you have talent, are creative and have a market, you can share your music using the Internet. It is giving so many people who never had an opportunity to be heard to make a good living by selling their music there. My latest CD, "Raw Wood,” will be sold to people on the Internet. This is the way the music business will operate 10 years from now. Whether people like it or not, at least I’ll be heard.

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