Cat
kicks chicken
Mudcat
goes one mo' better on Kickin'
Chicken BY
ART HOWARD
"There's
things that the crowd wants and
things that I want, and where
those two cross is what I do in
my job," says singer,
songwriter and Piedmont blues
preservationist Danny
"Mudcat" Dudeck.
At
that nexus of expectations
something rare in the often-trite
world of blues is born: a unique
sound. Part John Hammond Jr.,
part Willie Nelson and part the
Clash, Mudcat is the antidote to
Stevie Ray Vaughan wannabes with
black hats and factory-faded
Stratocasters.
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| Dudeck
has been spreading the gospel of
real folk blues since the late
'80s with an ever-changing
assortment of musicians in every
kind of venue imaginable, from
Fat Matt's Rib Shack to blues
festivals across America and
Europe. A new recording, called Kickin'
Chicken, Mudcat's fourth
official release, will soon be
available at an Internet
connection near you. And these
party-blues tunes are not for
listening to as you cry in your
beer. Mudcat music is about
Georgia mash spirits, fine women
and Swiss tuba players who roll
bread for a living (see the song
"Fernando"). Dudeck's
many tours of Europe over the
past three years have influenced
his newer material,
"specifically 'San Marco'
and 'Santa Maria.'" "Those
songs are from hanging out in
beautiful places that are very
ancient; playing with and
listening to musicians of other
cultures, most particularly the
tarantella musicians of
Italy." Tarantella is a
traditional form of Italian song
and dance.
Though
the past three years have been
particularly eventful as Mudcat
has played alongside stars like
Dickey Betts, the Fabulous
Thunderbirds' Kim Wilson, and
toured Europe several times, the
songs on Kickin' Chicken
are not inspired solely by these
events.
"Some
songs were written half of my
lifetime ago, like the 'X-Mass'
song. Some songs are brand new,
from right before the record.
Some were written in the studio,
like the song 'Kickin'
Chicken.'"
As
on Mudcat's previous discs, his
current band, past collaborators
and friends join him. Former
Mudcat conga-and-washboard
pounder Chris Uhler, now with
King Johnson, makes an appearance
and recording engineer Rob Gal
sits in on electric guitar.
"There are several musicians
on the record that made guest
appearances, so hopefully we can
get them all up to the [CD
release] show," Dudeck says.
Current
Mudcat band members include
saxophonist Julie Goldstein, whom
Dudeck met as she was
roller-skating down a Paris
sidewalk, and drummer Tim
Gunther, who materialized with a
drum set one evening and has
haunted the back of the stage
ever since. Returning to the
Mudcat fold is
bassist/guitarist/flutist Evan
"Snave" Frayer. "I
met Snave back in probably '89
when I was working with
Greenpeace," Dudeck says.
"His wife worked for
Greenpeace, and every Thursday
night after work we would have a
party at a different place. I
always played music at these
parties and we got a relationship
to where we started playing in
the street."
Kickin'
Chicken is being released by
the Music Maker label, which is
associated with the Music Maker
Relief Foundation, the creation
of blues enthusiast Tim Duffy.
The organization uses the
proceeds of CD sales and shows to
assist elderly blues musicians
with their daily needs, and
Dudeck is on the board of
directors. The disc will be
available at live shows, and
beginning in January it will be
among the first group of discs
available for download on Apple's
iTunes site.
"We're
underground. We don't mean to be,
but we pretty much are
underground," says Dudeck.
"We're not embraced by the
mainstream."
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