Nudie‘s background is interesting. He was born in Ontario and has since resided in Quebec, Arizona, Texas and New York, finally settling on Prince Edward Island, off the east coast of New Brunswick. He developed a following busking outside of venues on Willie Nelson’s tour, but after two albums with Nudie and the Turks, he’s moved on to a solo career. Nudie’s debut shows many of the same country influences as his earlier work, but the instrumentation has evolved. Gone are fiddle and mandolin, but added are organ, piano and drums.
The music is straightforward country and takes its style from country stalwarts such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Hank Williams. While the aforementioned inspirations for Nudie’s sound are clear, the album is not too derivative,…
…Nudie has his own unmistakeable vocal delivery and lyrical style. His lyrics are all very personal, tackling the usual country themes but with enough uniqueness and personality to make them interesting, such as the opening of ‘Pawn Shop': ‘This guitar it sounds, a little bit better, every time it comes back from the pawn shop on Church Street, where it goes to stay.’ Pair this with a solid musical backing and you have yourself a very enjoyable album from Nudie. — AmericanaUK