Wood Newton (born September 16, 1946 in Hampton, Arkansas, United States) is an American songwriter and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] Newton was born in Hampton, Arkansas, and graduated from Hampton High School in Hampton, Arkansas in 1964. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1970.
In 1978 and 1979, Newton recorded for Elektra Records, charting the singles "Last Exit for Love", "Lock, Stock & Barrel" and "Julie (Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?)".[2] He later became a songwriter for other artists, with his credits including Razzy Bailey's number one single "Midnight Hauler".

Wood was born and raised in Hampton, Arkansas population 1600. He was graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in business administration in 1970. He is the sole owner of Rope A Note Music publishing, which contains more than five hundred songs. He also owns Rope A Note studio on Music Row, and has his own production company.

Wood and his wife Gloria moved to Nashville in 1976 to get in the music business. Since then, as a songwriter Wood has written some of country music’s biggest hits, among them are; "BOBBIE SUE" for THE OAK RIDGE BOYS, "TWENTY YEARS AGO" for KENNY ROGERS, “WHAT I DIDN’T DO” for STEVE WARINER, and “RIDING WITH PRIVATE MALONE” which he produced for DAVID BALL. All four of these songs have received BMI awards for being played over a million times.

Wood produced, and sang harmony with David Ball on “OLD FOLKS AT HOME”, a track on “Beautiful Dreamer, The Songs Of Stephen Foster”. It won a Grammy for Traditional Folk Album of the year 2005.

Billy Dean has recorded "Wave On Old Glory Wave On" a new song that Wood co-wrote with Jim Weatherly. On Wood's birthday September 16th 2008 they had the great honor of having the 82 piece Nashville Symphony, and the Fisk Jubilee Singer play and sing on this new song, It was released January 13th on a 38 song multi-artist album called "This Is My America" http://www.ThisIsMyAmerica.com

A new movie called "The Last Ride", based on the last three days of Hank Williams' life came out in limited released Oct. 21st. It stars Henry Thomas as Hank, Henry is best know for playing the kid in the movie "ET". Wood co-wrote two songs for it with Hank's daughter Jett Williams who was born two weeks after her father's death.

Songs written by Wood Newton
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* Razzy Bailey – "Midnight Hauler", "Blind Faith and the Naked Truth", "Twenty Years Ago"
* The Oak Ridge Boys – "Bobbie Sue"
* Restless Heart – "I Want Everyone to Cry"
* Steve Wariner – "What I Didn't Do", "Do You Want To Make Something of It", "I Can See Arkansas", "The Heartland"
* Kenny Rogers – "Twenty Years Ago", "I'll Be There For You"
* Pearl River – "Fool to Fall"
* David Ball – "Riding with Private Malone", "Happy with the One I've Got", "I Can See Arkansas", "Loser Friendly", "She Always Talked About Mexico", "Swing Baby", "Too Much Blood in My Alcohol Level", "Violence and Lies"
* Tracy Byrd "Pink Flamingos"
* Conway Twitty "Every Time I Think It's Over"
* T. G. Sheppard "A Little Less Blue"
* Alabama "All Together Now"
* Charley Pride "Just for the Love of It", "Lonestar Lonely"
* B. J. Thomas "I Want Everyone to Cry", "The Girl Most Likely To"
* Martin Delray "Lillie's White Lies", "One in a Row"
* Bjøro Håland "Blue Rendezvous", "If I Could Make A Living Loving You", "Making Future Memories", "She's Not Leaving, She's Gone", "The Door", "The Name of the Game is Cheating", "What I Didn't Do"

"Riding with Private Malone" is a song written by Wood Newton and Thom Shepherd, and recorded by American country music artist David Ball. It was released in August 2001 as the first single from his album Amigo. The song reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts (now Hot Country Songs) chart, and #36 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Ball's first Top 40 country hit since "Look What Followed Me Home" in 1995. USA Today referred to it as "the country song that tapped most subtly and profoundly into the emotions of its audience" after the September 11 attacks, even though it was released to radio a few weeks before the attacks.[2]

"Bobbie Sue" is a song written by Wood Newton, Dan Tyler and Adele Tyler, and recorded by American country music group The Oak Ridge Boys. It was released in January 1982 as the first single and title track to the group's album of the same name. That April, the song became the Oaks' sixth No. 1 single on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart.[1]
"Bobbie Sue," named for the song's main character (and described as "the sweetest grape that ever grew on the vine"), is in a sense about an 18-year-old woman's sexual awakening. The role of boyfriend, the song's protagonist, is filled by the singer.
The first verse establishes that the protagonist had heard about Bobbie Sue from a friend, and he quickly spends as much time with her as possible. After turning 18, Bobbie Sue begins to rebel against her parents — Robert and Ruth — and decides to marry her boyfriend. Bobbie Sue's parents apparently disapprove of the relationship ("Her Daddy told her that she'd have to wait/Her Mama said don't make a big mistake"), but the young couple is determined to elope ("But we'll keep driving till we're out of state/And when they find us it'll be too late").