Singer Woodson’s Heart Is in the Land

Folk singer-songwriter Joyce Woodson was pursuing a double major in education and anthropology at UC Santa Cruz when she wrote her senior thesis on the relationship between country music lyrics and urban growth. But this was one academic exercise that came out of the most intensely personal brand of real-life experience.

Woodson, who plays Saturday in Anaheim, grew up in rural surroundings of the Capistrano Valley in South Orange County, then watched as it became dotted with tract homes and shopping malls.

Woodson and her family lived happily on a 50-acre farm in San Juan Capistrano, where her mom tended to household chores and four children while her father plowed the fields, harvesting and packing vegetables that were trucked to Los Angeles.

Many of her memories of that time--fond and bittersweet--surface on her two albums--”Landscapes” (1993) and the aptly titled “Capistrano Girl” (1997), both for her own custom label, Radish Records.

“It really was a lovely time growing up in the [Capistrano] Valley,” Woodson said recently by phone from her Nashville home. “I knew all the neighbors as I’d walk through the farm fields on my way home from school.

“To get an idea of what it was like back then, you’d have to drive up to California’s Central Valley, or maybe north on the 101 [Ventura Freeway], where there is just field after field and those tranquil, rolling hills,” she said. “That’s where ‘The Sprinklers of Salinas’ came from--it’s the only place left that looks to me like the Capistrano I knew.”

With Orange County’s population growth came property-tax increases that forced the family off their farm in the late ‘60s and into a nearby tract home. Woodson--who was 16 at the time--recalls how traumatic the experience was, particularly for her father.

“I think what hit me the hardest was seeing the disappointment in his face,” she said. “He was suddenly a farmer without a farm. . . . For a man in this society not to have work . . . well, it just knocked him off his feet. He didn’t know what to do with himself.

“At first, I was kind of numb, and then for a while I resented what happened,” she said. “But you know what? There are some beautiful people living in those tract homes. Some of my best friends lived there and we had a blast. I miss my valley terribly, but in a way, it’s very sweet to share it with everyone. The world is not mine alone.”

So Woodson began turning her feelings of angst and uncertainty into songs.

Playing a pivotal role in her musical baptism was Mary McCaslin, an underexposed yet respected folk singer. Woodson was frequently mesmerized during early-’70s gigs at the Four Muses club in San Clemente by McCaslin, who gave Woodson guitar lessons.

“It was such an inspiring scene . . . I remember when I first saw Mary play there, I said, ‘I want to be her,’ ” said Woodson, who also cites Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Kate Wolf as her primary musical influences. “That place was thriving back then. I saw Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, John Stewart . . . Steve Martin even did some comedy there.”

But unable to gather much career momentum, Woodson moved to the L.A. area and got a job doing concert production at McCabe’s, the Santa Monica folk club and guitar shop where she stayed for seven years.

“I realized my heart was in songwriting and I needed to surround myself with like-minded, creative people,” Woodson said. “One of my jobs was to take care of the performers, and I learned a lot meeting artists like Townes Van Zandt, who not only had this tremendous talent, but a longing to connect with people.” (Although she takes considerable creative license, Woodson pays tribute to the Texas songwriting legend in her heartfelt tune “Casper, Wyoming.”)

Over the years, Woodson traveled occasionally to Nashville to work with other songwriters, among them her frequent collaborator Fred Koller. She decided to move to Nashville almost four years ago “to make some business connections and try and get some songs cut. . . . I really needed to be in an environment that would stimulate the creative process, and it hasn’t let me down.”

Even though she still doesn’t have a song publishing or recording deal, Woodson said she enjoys the “small town-like atmosphere that’s creatively nurturing.”

She’s starting to make her presence felt as she continues to write new songs that are attracting the attention of other singers.

One is Christopher Bonnett, a Canadian she met at the Bluebird Cafe, a popular meeting place for singers and songwriters.

“He just kind of walked up to me and said, ‘I’m a singer from Calgary looking for good songs--you got any?’ ” Woodson said.

Another song, titled “Persuasion,” is being recorded by Carolyn Mas, a longtime underground punk-rocker.

“Carolyn apparently still has a record deal in Europe,” said Woodson, “and she’s in the process of getting the song translated into French. So it looks like a romantic swing ballad of mine will be sung in French by an American punk rocker for a German record label.”

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* Joyce Woodson--with Dobro player Marty Rifkin--plays Saturday at the Downtown Community Center, 250 E. Center St., Anaheim. Paul Arnoldi opens at 7:30 p.m. $10. Presented by the Living Tradition Folk Music Series, Reservations: (949) 646-1964 or steve@psitech.com.