Hoot Holler Music News, Events, Press Releases

"I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the manmade sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig."

— Alfred Hitchcock

APRIL 2008 ARTICLE FROM THE LAUREL OF ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE:

TOM DUDLEY DOES IT RIGHT:
FROM BLUEGRASS TO JAZZ TO ELECTRONICS…
AND BACK AGAIN

By Bill Kopp
From the April 2008 issue of The Laurel of Asheville magazine, supporting Asheville’s culture, commerce and community. www.thelaurelofasheville.com

If a musician attends the famed Berklee College, goes on to work as an electronic technician at Moog Music, and then choose bluegrass music as a career, he must be a musical carpetbagger. Right? Wrong.

“My mother was from southern Ohio, near Kentucky…almost Appalachia. My parents sang Carter Family songs around the piano,” guitarist Tom Dudley says. “I hooked up to music pretty early on.

I got reintroduced to bluegrass at Yale University. There was a bar called The Enormous Room. It was open to graduate students, and since I was under age, my sister would sneak me in.” The house band was a local radio favorite, the Apple Country String Band. Major names like Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe performed there, too. Tom was hooked.

“Eventually I decided to go off to Berklee and study jazz for a few years,“ he explains. When I was there, there were something like 1,200 students, 800 of whom were guitar players!” He did well, but yearned to do something a bit different.

Tom went on to study electronics, landing a job in Asheville with synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog. “I did panel layouts, simulated pictures of products that didn’t exist yet.”

At the same time, Tom started attending the old-time music jam nights at Asheville’s Jack of the Wood. He recalls thinking, “That looks like a lot of fun. I’ll bet I could do that!” Tom quickly developed musical relationships with other local players. His formal training and ability to sight-read meant that he quickly became an in-demand acoustic musician. It wasn’t long before he founded the band County Farm.

Six years ago, Tom made the leap to full-time musician. “We started doing enough gigs that it was getting pretty tiring to get up and go to work in the morning,” he laughs.

Tom recently released his first solo album, Walkin’ to the Bridge, a varied collection that sums up his many musical influences. He says that his own songs are “less rowdy, less old-timey” than the County Farm songs. The standout track, – the one that “has legs”, as Tom puts it – is the clever “Etch A Sketch of Love.” There are several fast-pickin’ instrumentals, some acoustic blues/bluegrass hybrids, and the haunting “Nightbird,” featuring the a cappella guest vocals of Cary Fridley.

“My songs are aimed more at producing an emotional impact,” Tom explains. There’s more on the way: “I’m hoping to come out with another record before too many more months go by.”

Tom Dudley’s Walkin’ to the Bridge is available from CDbaby and from Tom’s website: www.hoothollermusic.com

Bill Kopp is editor-in-chief of Boston-based Skope Magazine. He is writing a book about legendary unreleased recordings from the rock era. He can be reached at bill@billkopp.com

JUNE 2007 PRESS RELEASE:

Contact:
Tom Dudley
Hoot Holler Music
828-658-1565
828-231-6340 (cell)
tomdudley@hoothollermusic.com
www.hoothollermusic.com

Asheville guitarist and songwriter Tom Dudley presents the first CD release from his new company, Hoot Holler Music.

Performing was low on Tom Dudley's list when he entered Asheville's music scene in 1995. Originally from New England, he moved here from Atlanta to work as an electronic technician for synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog.

Before taking the technical route, however, Dudley's life was all about performing and composing, and honing an eclectic musical palate. Early on, his parents skipped the traditional lullabies and plugged him into the Carter Family, Flatt and Scruggs and Bill Monroe, as well as Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. He went on to study classical guitar, piano and music theory at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, and jazz performance and arranging at Boston's Berklee College. In the late 70s and early 80s, he played in rock and jazz fusion bands and studied the "Newgrass" music of Tony Rice and David Grisman.

But until Dudley moved to Asheville, his acoustic guitar had lived alone in its case for years. Once here, he discovered the jam sessions at venues such as Jack of the Wood, and found himself pulled back onstage. He became a founding member of County Farm, an Asheville-based bluegrass band.

In 2002, Dudley left Moog Music to make his own music, full-time. "When I moved to Asheville," he said, "I had no idea I would end up playing in a working band. Leaving Moog to play music was a huge leap of faith. But I had to go for it."

While busy performing, Dudley felt pulled back to his composing roots as well. His new CD, "Walkin' to the Bridge," is the natural result of his appreciation for Asheville's diverse music traditions. He said, "I was aiming for a real mix of songs. The instrumentation is what you get with a typical bluegrass band. Guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and bass, but the music covers more ground. There are bluegrass, jazz, blues and Celtic influences. Even a little bebop."

Another dream of Dudley's was to gather top-notch singers and pickers to collaborate on one CD. With many of the eleven tunes he composed for this release, he had one of the featured artists in mind. For example, his song "Nightbird" was destined from the start for Cary Fridley, who sings this haunting ballad solo and unaccompanied. Fridley is a former Freighthopper, a group that won the "Talent From Towns Under 2000" competition on NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion." One of her specialties is music in the old Madison County tradition. "When I wrote 'Nightbird,' Dudley said, "I knew I wanted Cary to sing it. Her voice is pure, clear and strong. It fits the song perfectly, and I was delighted that she agreed to record it."

One of the nine musicians on the CD is Dudley himself, the sole guitarist, and he also plays mandolin and sings lead on three tracks. Town Mountain's Robert Greer sings lead on the tongue-in-cheek tear-jerker "Etch A Sketch of Love" and the seriously heartfelt "Don't Mourn For Me." Also featured are Daniel Coolik of One Leg Up, Jay Mullenax and Paul Leech of County Farm, and Lance Mills of the Cavemen. Capping off the lineup are Nicky Sanders, who fiddles full-time with Steep Canyon Rangers (2006 IBMA Emerging Artists of the Year), and banjo wizard Ryan Cavanaugh, who tours with jazz saxophonist Bill Evans. The CD was independently produced, and mixed and mastered by Grammy winner Nathan Milner at Studio 411 in Asheville.

Dudley said that his biggest challenge was nabbing the other eight musicians when they weren't busy with recordings or gigs of their own. "'Walkin' to the Bridge' was more like a long hike," he said. "It was worth it, though. I learned a lot and got to work with some truly gifted musicians. Live performances have great energy, but you don't have a lot of control. The sound can be bad, the audience might pay attention or they might not. There comes a time to record in a controlled environment. 'Walkin' to the Bridge' was a studio project, so I had the luxury of crafting it slowly. Now that Hoot Holler Music is formally a company, I'm looking forward to the next release."

For more information about the CD and the musicians, visit www.hoothollermusic.com.

END

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