John Hudson and Emryboard
If there was a WAMI award this year for busiest man in the Warrnambool music scene, singer-songwriter John Hudson would have been a worthy winner. A new band, various recording projects, equipment endorsements, gigs along the Australian east coast, setting up a record label and raising a 10-and-a-half-month-ld baby girl have all been vying for his time. "It’s been a big 12 months,"Hudson understated, adding that during the past year he had also lost "a good friend and mentor" in local guitar teacher Fred Reilly. But things aren’t about to slow down for Hudson. Tonight his new band John Hudson and Emryboard begins its fortnightly residency at the Seanchai. "It’s developed quickly from being blues-based to now playing the full gamut of styles," he said of the new group, which features Glenn Board (bass) and Jon Emry drums). A tour and an album, tentatively titled Different Kind Of Day, are also in the works, and he will also continue playing solo gigs at the Seanchai on alternate nights to the Emryboard gigs. Different Kind Of Day isn’t the only studio project Hudson has on the go. He and long-time collaborator Lyn Eales have recently returned from a series of performances at a major national music conference on the Gold Coast and various Byron Bay venues. They have plans to release a long-awaited jazz-flavoured CD. "It’ll be a cruisey late-night-listening album," Hudson said of the project he and Eales have been working on for more than 12 months. On top of that, the guitarist recently scored an endorsement with Godin Guitars, a Canadian instrument manufacturer. As part of Hudson’s commitment to their guitars, he runs clinics on the instruments at conferences and will record an instrumental album to showcase what it can do. Then there’s Merrihop Records, which will initially be used to distribute his own product but will soon be signing south-west artists. "Down the line we’ll start promoting and distributing local artists and already there is considerable interest," he said. "There is a prolific recording (scene) down here, but the CDs only get sold at gigs or through the help of Capricorn Records. "It was confirmed at the conference that a lot of people are aware of the strength of the Warrnambool music scene." He said the label would help get "local artists out to a wider listening market". Hudson’s first priorities are his partner Peta and their baby Eva. "She’ll be walking any day now," the proud father beamed about his little girl. John Hudson and Emryboard will perform tonight at the Seanchai from 9pm.
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