LYONS — Wendy Woo is a performer rooted sturdily in Colorado. Originally from New York, the acoustic singer-songwriter moved to Boulder with her parents as a kid, going back and forth between Boulder and Nederland.
Both of her parents, Bataan and Jane Faigao, served as founding faculty members at Naropa University and co-founded what has since developed into the school’s Traditional Eastern Arts program. She’s performed seriously in Colorado since the 1990s, and she currently lives in Loveland with her family.
“The only thing I was really interested in was singing,” recalls the now-Loveland resident of joining a chamber choir during her time at Boulder High School. “I really got to learn about all the different voicings of things.”
She worked her first music industry job as a server and a bartender at the Fox Theater in Boulder, where many performing acts inspired her musically and lyrically. Primarily singing in her younger years, she learned guitar after high school to accompany herself in performances.
“I did some traveling for some years, just playing guitar and seeking out drum circles and Grateful Dead shows, to be honest,” says the now 55-year-old musician.
Locally, Woo is a five-time winner of the Westword Music Award for Singer/Songwriter of the Year. Nationally, she performed in the 1999 Lilith Fair, an all-female music festival, amongst acts including The Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, and festival founder Sarah McLachlan.
“I have a style of guitar playing that I do that I call slaptap,” explains Woo, “where I use the whole guitar as a drum, using the body sounds and the harmonics. I’ve had a lot of luck standing out from a group of others because that’s so different and unique.”
Currently performing both originals and covers with her band Girl Crush, she’s also shared the stage with musicians such as James Taylor, The Fray, Brad Paisley, and Counting Crows. She’s written and recorded over 200 songs during her time as a musician.
“It’s very therapeutic,” says Woo about the process of songwriting. “So many of the songs I’ve written just to work through stuff, I don’t even share because they’re so sad.”
Having grown up in an artistic social center in Boulder, Woo has always immersed herself in the arts. However, music is the art form that has shaped her the most.
“I tried other things, and I always came back to music,” says Woo, who turned 55 this past January. “I feel like I know so much about it, and I also feel like there’s so much to learn.”
Wendy Woo will be performing at Oskar Blues Grill and Brew, located at 303 Main Street in Lyons, on Friday, May 22, 2026, starting at 7 p.m.
