Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, AJ & The Woods have spent the last decade making a significant impression in the modern roots music landscape. Blending Appalachian folk, Americana, blues and rock into a sound that feels at once timeless and modern, the band’s music can shift from intimate acoustic passages to expansive, full-band arrangements, all while remaining instilled with honest storytelling and emotional connection.
The project first took shape back in 2015 following a chance meeting between vocalist Alison Tomin and guitarist Joshua Alan Collins. Their creative partnership gradually bloomed into a full five-piece outfit, with the addition of bass, drums and fiddle bringing greater energy and texture to their musical vision. At the centre of everything remains the chemistry between Alison and Joshua, whose collaborative songwriting process draws from their own life experience. Alison’s expressive and commanding vocal delivery pairs naturally with Joshuaâs layered guitar work, creating songs that equally personal and widely relatable.
Over the years, AJ & The Woods have built momentum through a combination of strong releases and increasingly high-profile performances. Their debut album, Stay Steady, arrived in 2022 and quickly marked them as a band comfortable exploring folk traditions and embracing modern rock energy. Since then, a series of well-received singles has further expanded their audience, while recognition within their local scene has continued to grow.
That upward trajectory was amplified when AJ & The Woods were named Best Folk Artist at the 2023 Cleveland Music Awards, a milestone that reflected the impact they’d already begun making. The band has also played alongside artists including Chase Rice and The Mary Wallopers, while festival appearances at Bellwether Music Festival and the South Buffalo Irish Festival have helped introduce their music to wider audiences. Now the group returns with their sophomore full-length release titled For Her, an album that represents their most ambitious and personal work thus far.
Across eight tracks, AJ & The Woods expand their musical output while remaining true to the roots-focused origins that’s rippled throughout their work to date. For Joshua, the writing process coincided with several major life events, “I was raised by two women, my mother and my grandmother. While writing the record, I became a single father to my daughter, my grandmother passed, and I met the love of my life. Thereâs a lot of dark and light in this record that I think people can relate to,” he explains. “Itâs for the strong women in our lives who have shaped us, and for the strength we have in ourselves that we may not always see,” adds Alison.
Set up by the twang of guitar and plucks of banjo on opening track “Hope,” the steady shuffle of drums carries a smooth groove as Alison’s compelling voice rings out above the country rock arrangement. Dashed with intricate flutter of fiddle and brimming with catchy melodic charm, it’s a stunning showcase of the band’s memorable songwriting and performance panache. “Haloed Eyes” slows things down with the delicate tones of acoustic guitar as tender vocals and the laid back patter of drums form a stunning outing of elegant vocal performance, picture painting lyrics and alluring melodic writing.
Title track “For Her” sets a moody atmosphere with brooding instrumentation and hushed vocals, developing with the mellow pulse of percussion and rising intensity in Alison’s voice to serve up an anthemic slice of modern Americana. “Life Worth Living” rolls into the band’s rock stylings, pairing gritty guitar textures with country elements to cast an engrossing listening experience from start to finish. “Send Me On My Way” brings a buoyant aesthetic with bouncy rhythms and upbeat vocal layers which flow alongside bright instrumentation to deliver a delightful jam.
“Back To You” presents an emotive moment that strips things back to craft a moving scene of heartfelt lyrics and graceful instrumentation while “The Other Room” brings punchy rhythms and smokey arrangement capped by powerful vocals. Closing the album with “I Don’t Care,” the band lays down a grooving rhythm with gritty guitars and captivating vocals to offer an infectious pop-tinged finale to their sensational second record.
We caught up with AJ & The Woods to find out more about their musical journey so far, their new album For Her and what they’ve got lined up for the future. Check out our interview with AJ & The Woods below.
Hey guys, howâs things?
JC: Things are great! Weâre chatting before a show. Always a good day when we play a show.
How did you get together as a band?
JC: Her leg was broken at a party, and I cornered her, and she couldn’t leave. So, I bombarded her with music questions.
Alison: We had mutual friends and we went to the same college, but we didn’t meet each until after college a couple years later. A mutual friend had a birthday party and I had a broken foot. It was the middle of winter and I got cornered in her apartment. That was in 2012. We met again two years later at an open mic and started writing together. The rest is history.
Which artists do you draw most inspiration from?
JC: Individually or collectively as a band? Individually I’d say Billy Gibbons, George Thorogood. Maybe, maybe some Allman Brothers. It’s pretty eclectic, I’d say.
Alison: On my end, I would say Chris Thile and Punch Brothers, I’m With Her. All the kind of folk bluegrassy stuff. But I think as a band, we sound like John Mellencamp.
JC: Yeah, I think there’s a John Mellencamp. In there, it’s got fiddle. It’s got you know mandolin in parts. It’s got that big electric guitar. It’s got acoustic guitar. Very Americana, but Rock, folk rock.
How else do you find inspiration for your music?
Alison: I would say everyday life. Going through and living life.
JC: Iâd say the Tom Waits school of thought on timing. I’ll hold the guitar for 12 hours a day for a month and not be inspired and all of a sudden I’ll get hit with something out of nowhere. I don’t know what it is, but that will usually turn into songs.
What was your highlight of 2025?
Alison: Finishing the record. We’ve got everything done tracked, mixed, and mastered and then we started the whole vinyl process.
JC: I think the photo shoot for the record. It came together so easily. The idea came out and we talked about it and it came to fruition and it got done. And that is now pressed. And that’s really cool. We used a camera from 1910, over 100 years old. There is a guy in Cleveland, that does Tin type photos on an old camera and it turned out great.
Alison: Cleveland Tin Types, that’s the name of it.
What do you love about the Cleveland music scene?
JC: Oh boy, it’s very, it’s very eclectic. There is a huge variety from Bluegrass to Honky Tonk to metal to new age to rap to all ,you name it. And we’ve played with just about everybody at this point, which is really cool. You kind of get a taste of everything in this town. It’s not like Nashville. I feel like when you go to Nashville, there’s one category of music that everything centers around. But Clevelandâs got a lot of everything.
What would you say is the perfect setting for listeners to enjoy your sound?
JC: That depends on the mood. We can do anything from a Duo acoustic. Trio acoustic to a full 10 piece band with backup singers. When we write, it’s not a mood of the record. It’s the mood of the song. So the perfect setting, I would say acoustically small venue full band. Itâs a lot of fun and very intimate.
Alison: If you’re looking for more of our recorded stuff, it kind of depends again on the song. If youâre having a rip roaring party, âI don’t care,â youâre having a date night âHaloed Eyesâ It just kind of depends.
How has your own style and sound evolved since you started out?
JC: Itâs evolved tenfold. The music has gotten more intricate but also more simple is the right term. We’ve really gotten into the habit of serving the song and not overplaying and not stepping on the cool little nuances that happen in the music, which I think can get lost if you overplay. You lose these perfect little touches that can happen by just over playing. We all listen to each other. We’re very collaborative and we can kind of fall into a pocket pretty quickly.
Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?
JC: Alison is going to say, Chris Thile, I think. This is going to sound really weird. I never really liked these guys growing up. There’s something about it, I just kind of want to see what would happen. Not that we’d ever have this chance. I’d like to sit down with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, him and his brother, I think, would be a lot of fun. But if Itâs something realistically? The Black Keys because they’re Ohio boys like me, and I think we’d find a lot of common ground.
Alison: I think so, too, a lot of Blues influences.
How did you find making your new album âFor Herâ?
JC: We’re were already working on this album when âStay Steadyâ came out in 2022. There’s songs on there that we were writing during covid. It takes that long. I don’t think it’s an instant thing. Weâre not the duo that writes a ton of songs and see what sticks to the wall. If we get something together, we work on it. It’s just notâHey, we wrote a song and then move on to the next one.â We want to bring it into the world a little bit and see what it is. And then we’ll decide to scrap it. Yeah, that has happened.
What message did you want to get across with this release?
Alison: The title track âFor Herâ is about the love a parent has for a child. JC was going through a hard time and all these things he was getting put through.
JC: Wicked divorce, let’s put it there.
Alison: And I was watching him go through all this. Keeping his head up and doing everything he could to make sure his daughter has the best life possible. âFor Herâ is kind of that struggle of, you know? I’m going through hell, but I’ll do it again because I have this person that I would do anything for.
JC: If you really start looking at the names of the songs and the lyrics, they’re all kind of attached. If you put that light at the end of the tunnel on the other side of a divorce, you can kind of go through that record. Even the last song is called, âI don’t care.â It’s how I felt at the end of that, before it was just over it. Itâs weird when I didn’t realize that until that question was asked.
Alison: I think the whole album is about, Resilience.
What artist have you been listening to most recently?
JC: That’s hard to say because I try to listen to a little bit of everything I’m trying to listen to new stuff to see what’s out there. I’m going to confess something. I listen to a lot of podcasts like murder mysteries and new current events. I have to be in the mood to listen to music, and it’s just not something I just put on when I get in my car. It’s usually talk. Mainly because my brain is always constantly thinking of song ideas and guitar stuff.
Great example, we had this song called âBackwoodsâ. I loved her melody and the lyrics were great. There was something this riff that came too easy. And I played it, played it, played and played it. We even played it out. Then one day I had ZZ Top radio on and wouldn’t you know it, they wrote a song, and it was the same exact riff as the intro to âBackwoodsâ. So hopefully through, I want to say osmosis, I made that riff. Billy Gibbons, being one of my guitar Idols, I just kind of fell into his pocket, I guess his frequency. We don’t play that song anymore. He scored that one. It’s just too similar.
Whatâs the main thing you want people to get out of listening to your music?
JC: Just Joy. Be happy.
Alison: Connection, because I feel like with our music you can find things to be happy about and enjoy, party with other people. Sometimes it’s cathartic, I’m having a hard time someone can understand.
JC: And then there’s that song in there that you could get on the treadmill and run to and there’s also the song that you could relax and have glass of wine to. Got a little bit of everything in it from us anyways.
Tusk by Fleetwood Mac would probably not be made today. A lot of people don’t listen to modern albums that all tie together straight through. They’re single serving songs. I hate to say it but that’s kind of how people are assembling records, including us, but there’s still a little bit of a tie to each song, I think.
Alison: If you can get some Joy, some sadness, some fun, some anger. A little bit of everything
Whatâs been your favourite live performance so far?
Alison: The South Buffalo Irish Festival that we did last year. It was great. A big truck stage and people really, really enjoyed it. The band after us literally screamed âYou fâing Rockâ right before they started. It was amazing.
JC: Opening for Chase Rice New Year’s Eve House of Blues in 2018/19. That was a sold out show. 2,800 people in the House of Blues, New Year’s Eve and we had only been a band for three years at that point. It was just one of those, you get the treatment, you got the sound, you got the audience, you had the energy, and that is so, so fulfilling, that it’s almost Indescribable. You can think back when you’re a kid holding your guitar for the first time. Hoping one day, you might have a shot at a stage ever. And then, here you are New Year’s Eve, and it’s just, you know, it’s pandemonium. It’s so much fun. That one’s gonna stick with me for a long time.
Who would be 3 artists to headline your dream festival? And where would it be?
Alison: Buffalo, NY, Borderlands
JC: That’s cool. That would be a lot of fun. We have a really, really fun time in New York with this music and it’s very appreciated. But if you want to talk about just hardcore, five bands on a bill, including us?
I’m gonna say, let’s get weird. Let’s have Blues Traveler open. Let’s get real weird. We do Blues Traveler, John Mellencamp from 1988 when he still had his stuff together. Then I’m going to say, I want to see George Thorogood and then ZZ Top, then us. Oh. Big six Black Crows are in there too. It’s a good list.
Do you have any advice for a new artist wanting to follow your footsteps?
JC: Don’t. Ignore the business side. I am so lucky that Alison is in this band with me. We would not be anywhere if it wasn’t for the business aspect of this. And we were just talking about it with the Booker of the venue we’re literally sitting out in front of right now. He goes âThese guys are coming in here. They don’t bring merch. They don’t have stickers. They don’t even download cards to hand outâ, and that stuff is so utterly important. And the other piece of advice that is always overlooked, put a drum head with your name on it. Put a guitar case with your name on it. Have it on stage. The biggest pet peeve is walking into a bar and hearing a really cool artist or band, and they don’t have any signage of saying who they are? You ask a patron next to you? Hey, who is this? I don’t know. Having your name on stuff and being really, really understanding of that. Writing and playing the music is probably 30 to 20 percent of this. That’s it.
Finally, what do you have lined up next?
JC: We’re doing the album release show June 6, with Lea Marra & the River Boys and Maura Rogers & The Bellows in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s going to be a lot of fun.
Alison: June 5th the album is officially out. You can pre-order the vinyl at ajandthewoods.bandcamp.com
Listen to For Her below
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