Nudie celebrates a timeless country sound
Nudie lives at the emotional crossroads of Heartbreak and Twang.
It’s the crux of this acclaimed troubadour’s life as he tours the country with his signature vintage Gemini guitar.
He’s named himself after Nudie Cohn who designed suits for celebrities ranging from Hank Williams to Elton John, including Elvis Presley’s iconic $10,000 gold lamé suit and Robert Redford’s high-voltage cowboy getup in the 1979 cult classic “Electric Horseman.”
“That’s where the name Nudie comes from. People who know about Americana and rootsy music will know who Nudie is,” he said.
Nudie hails from Chatham, Ont., born in 1964.
“I always heard music in the periphery,” he says. The radio there came from Detroit, and Windsor, including AM juggernaut CKLW. “They could make or break people. They made The Who and all kinds of people so I heard all of that stuff when I was a kid. I also heard my older siblings’ music — The Beatles, Stones, Monkees and on and on,” he adds.
“When I was a kid I knew nothing about performing music except watching my Uncle Jack play country tunes on his guitar,” Nudie notes, adding he started playing guitar at age 12.
“The guitar for me is the totem for a country singer,” says Nudie. “That’s what they need and this was before I knew I was going to be a country singer.”
He says he loves guitars and they have always been with him, but only as something to hold as he sings. He has a timeless sound like country music icons Hank Williams and Willie Nelson. His heartfelt vocals range from an occasional yodel to a hurtful croon meshed with his modern lyrical outlook.
Nudie has lived in Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, New York City, Montreal and Toronto in addition to his current locale of Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Nudie also spent some time in New York’s West Village, then decided to come back to Canada. He left the day before 9/11. This time he moved to the East Coast. He formed Nudie and The Turks in 2005,
busking just for fun.
Country veteran George Jones came to town and the band decided to busk outside the concert. Jones’ fiddle player joined them and gave them backstage passes to meet Jones.
Nudie thought it would be fun to take this busking gig “one step farther.” So he did the same thing with Willie Nelson’s 2006 maritime tour.
“They were very nice to us,” he recalls. “We just played for the people and then eventually we started eating their catering and then they invited us on (Nelson’s longtime right-hand man/drummer) Paul English’s bus and we ended up playing a party in St. John’s, N.L.,” says Nudie.
In 2012, Nudie and the Turks disbanded. Nudie went solo releasing “Remember This” in 2014.
His latest album/road diary/slice-oflove-and-life collection was recorded live off the floor and is called “Everything’s Different in The Night.” With the exception of the title track, the songs were written over a five-month period.
“Mr. Why’d Ya Come to Texas” is an amusing anecdote about a guy not knowing how to dance featuring Sylvie Smith. It is similar to an old Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra ballad. “I’ve Been Here Before” is Johnny Cash meets Roger Miller, with Ryan Weber playing “mariachi trumpet” and Hamilton’s Chris Altmann on pedal steel. “Train, You Took My Baby” (based on Nudie’s many Via Rail’s Artist on Board trips) is a rework of a Buck Owens song that was never finished.
He says every album has one cover to show his influences.
“If You Really Want Me To, I’ll go” was written by Texas blues/rock singer Delbert McClinton.
“The version I know was Doug Sahm and The Sir Douglas Quintet,” says Nudie. “When we played the song we were busking outside one of Willy’s shows. We played it for Paul English. Paul said, ‘I like the way you guys do that.’ I played on McClinton’s session and got paid $40!”