I have to say I’m a big fan of guitar music. There are many good players out there who can give you goosebumps by their amazing skills. One of these guitarists are Bob Wood.
Bob may not be as famous as Carlos Santana, but the 85-year-old’s skills are surely outstanding.
At 12, Bob hit the music scene for the first time when he appeared on a radio show. But as the years went by, he wasn’t able to focus on playing because of his full-time sales job. Regardless, he was good enough to perform at the Wheeling Jamboree in 1970 — and continued to do so every year through 1984.
Over those 14 years, Bob started to become a big deal! He won various awards and even presented a guitar to the Bicentennial Commission at the White House in 1976. He also collaborated with some of the greatest musicians of all time like Carl Perkins and Roy Clark and shared the stage with Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.
But as he neared musical success, he decided his Memphis, Tennessee neighborhood was an unsafe place to raise his six kids. So Bob packed up his family and gave up on fame and fortune.
Of course, life has a funny way of taking us places. Someone posted a video of Bob playing online when he was 80, and it went viral.
At that point, he was only creating music because he loves it so much, but his Internet fame opened new doors. So in 2017, he took the stage at DadFest. He played three sets for the festival in Willow Creek Community Church’s 7,000-seat auditorium — all of which received standing ovations from the full crowd.
Today, Bob has no desire to reach the height of fame he walked away from long ago. He just wants to keep pursuing his passion. Thank goodness! We’d be missing out if we couldn’t hear him play.
Check out his amazing skills in the video below, and share his remarkable story with your friends!
