- Chicago singer-poet Jamila Woods has signed with global independent booking agency ROAM for worldwide live touring representation, departing CAA.
- Karl Morse and Ali Hedrick will handle North America, while Alex Bruford covers Europe and the UK.
- Woods continues with Biz3 for publicity, keeping her PR infrastructure intact during the transition.
- The move marks a significant agency upgrade for Woods, landing her at the world's largest independent booking agency, home to Khruangbin, Japanese Breakfast, and Black Pumas.
Jamila Woods, the Chicago-born singer, poet, and multidisciplinary artist, has signed with ROAM for worldwide live touring representation.
Karl Morse and Ali Hedrick will lead her North American booking, while Alex Bruford, one of ROAM’s founding partners, takes Europe and the UK. Woods was previously booked by CAA, and publicity remains with Biz3.
Woods arrives at ROAM off the back of three critically acclaimed albums on Jagjaguwar: HEAVN (2017), LEGACY! LEGACY! (2019), and her most recent, Water Made Us (2023), a genre-blending exploration of love and surrender that earned widespread critical praise.
She has appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, CBS This Morning, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has shared stages with Chance the Rapper, Brittany Howard, Bonobo, and Common, among others. She also released a collaborative single with JuJu Rogers in 2026.
ROAM, formed in September 2025 from the merger of North America’s Arrival Artists and UK-based ATC Live, represents more than 800 artists and describes itself as the world’s largest independent booking agency.
The agency has been on an active signing streak, adding Raegan and Pigeon for worldwide representation.
Takeaways
Jamila Woods moving from CAA to ROAM is a calculated power play. CAA is the industry’s largest full-service agency, but ROAM’s independent structure, with dedicated territory agents on both sides of the Atlantic, offers Woods something different: focused, artist-first touring infrastructure without the corporate machinery.
The fact that Alex Bruford himself, one of ROAM’s founding partners, is personally handling her European territory signals just how seriously the agency is treating this signing.
Could this signing unlock a more ambitious European touring run for Woods, given Bruford’s deep roots in the UK/EU market? ROAM has been signing artists across indie, alternative, and now soul/R&B, are they quietly building the most eclectic roster in the independent agency world?
