“Hey, Gigs & Digs,” the happy, hyper voice rang out on our end of the answering machine, on Preakness weekend. “Since you all are hooking up on Father’s Day for your coming issue, let me tell you. Yeah, I am a dad – with two BEAUTIFUL daughters, aged thirteen and sixteen. And I’m about to marry again, and hey. Then I’ll be a step father – a great ten year old, a Boy, and a little girl, eight! Imagine.”

“Que fuerte,” the observer south of the border might remark. This is a mighty guy. Mudd, descended from the legendary Doctor Samuel Mudd, who merely set the assassin Booth’s leg out of a sense of mercy for the damned rather than traitrousness, shows some latter day gutsiness in his musical quest. A product of Tenleytown, DC (with stopoffs from Cali to Chapel Hill in between), the 45-years young Jonathan is not elusive as the fabulous Bob Lind’s butterfly of love was hard to entrap.

Heck no, Mudd is merely always on the GO, Man!! I’m chasing his SUV down Wisconsin Avenue off my Popeye jones, and he’s outside his car, catching up with somebody on his cell, maybe a manager, maybe a bandmate. God knows, he loves to play music, especially his own stuff. Which by the way has been original, idiosyncratic, and superlative in an increasingly oil-slicked world of pop cliches.

Spencer, a bit more the song-crafter than the Sky-ward half of this column, shall now expound upon the body of Mudd’s palette of work, which surfaced five years ago with the most unusual disk ANY GOOD HEAVEN and now comes TRUTH LIES for 2010. Spence has analyzed the different tracks in depth. Mudd laughed and informed Sky that his [Sky’s] comment on Jon’s stuff smacking of the “New Country”(or alt-country) was pretty right on.

Mudd: I use quite a bit of rock and pop sensibility in what I do, you know, with couple of guitars, my two friends (Andy Luthringer and Greg Miller) on the bass, some good drums (Greg Miller usually), and a little Hammond organ, and piano – that’s about it. No synthesizers or any of that silly overlaid material. New Country? I can see where you detect that kind of vibe with many of my songs. I am aware of that feel.

Jonathan Mudd is not only an extremely talented songsmith and singer.  While primarily a gifted guitarist, he also fills out the tracks on any number of other instruments – from piano, to other keyboards, bass, ukulele, drums and assorted other percussion.  In fact on his first solo CD “Any Good Heaven” released in 2004, many of the cuts were entirely done by Mudd – playing all the instruments.

His latest solo CD “Truth Lies” released in 2010 is more of a collaborative effort, with James O’Connell on drums, and alternately Greg Miller or Andrew Luthringer filling out the bass.  But all the songs on both CDs are entirely written by Mudd.  While, by his own admission, his emphasis has been to create in the Pop/Rock genre, his skills as a songwriter are evident in everything he’s produced so far.  Melodically his songs display a wide array of interesting – often challenging – chord changes and types, which are like candy to the ear of a discerning listener.  He also changes it up from song to song with a wide variety of tempos and moods, giving his music a certain freshness throughout.   His concepts are at times brilliant and noteworthy.  His guitar work is incredible, from serenely tender to positively scorching – and everything in between!

I generally feel uncomfortable making comparisons between various ‘sounds’, but in this case I think it might be permissible.  My impression in listening to Mudd’s music was a songwriting sensibility which often reminds me of the approach of Tom Petty.  Very straightforward and singable, but with a somewhat wider range, both harmonically, and in terms of mood.

For anyone who’s moved by the wide variety of tunes produced in the Pop/Rock genre, Jonathan Mudd’s efforts will be much appreciated.  Any for anyone who takes the craft of songwriting seriously, his music should provide inspiration.

Any number of songs on these first two solo CDs could easily qualify as a hit single.  Well done Jonathan!!

One huge factor: the friends of Mudd are often simultaneously podding or dubbing from studio locales in different cities – Amazing!

For further information about Jonathan Mudd, or to purchase/download his CDs, visit www. muddmusic.com.

By the way, how weird is Mudd if he’s the rabid NATS fan that he is? Maybe at the stadium you’ll catch him putting a fresh spin on our national anthem!! Next issue, Scott Shuman’s latest productions!

< Prev		Next >