Dudley Saunders

Bio:

2009 OUTMUSIC AWARD WINNER ("Best Album") DUDLEY SAUNDERS has been exploring the hidden lives of marginalized people since his late teens, starting first with his award-winning performance art pieces, then in fiction, documentary film and - finally - experimental folk music.

The Kentucky native first began performing his "surreal, modern folk tales" (VILLAGE VOICE) to downtown New York audiences in the early 90s, with a musical style halfway between the experimental chamber pop of The Decemberists and the Appalachian folk of Gillian Welch ­-- a style NEW YORK PRESS called "a new kind of American balladry", leading AMPLIFIER to dub him "a masterful storyteller in Bruce Springsteen/Leonard Cohen/Tom Waits territory."

After a brief foray with the Knitting Factory's label, Dudley released three solo albums with New York's Fang Records, most recently THE EMERGENCY LANE. He now lives and records in Los Angeles.

DUDLEY'S INTERACTIVE WEB PROJECT
Over the course of three albums, "experimental-folk" singer-songwriter Dudley Saunders has populated a veritable township with his strange, Flannery O'Connor-ish characters. And now he is literally putting that "town" online, in an interactive website.

At DudleySaunders.com, web-surfers find a panoramic, 1920's-era photo of the entire population of a small town. But as they scroll through the sepia-toned crowd, they discover that the twisted people in Dudley's songs are hidden there: Signs appear over them: Whore. Killer. Masochist. A click brings you video of Dudley taking you inside the background on the songs and the characters' lives.

As F.A.M.E. describes it, Dudley "is exploring the darker corners of the psyche and culture with a psychologist's fascination for the aberrant. The lovely chamber strings and lamentive minor chords? They're meant to lure you into the composer's webwork of madness, seamy side streets, subtle transgressions, and forever menacing shadows with their smacking lurkers."

And the people hidden in Dudley's town are (says NEXT BIG THING REVIEW) all "the people behind locked doors, or hidden in crowds or just out of sight a scary beautiful dream."

An ongoing project, DudleySaunders.com will bring new characters online at the start of every month, including previously unreleased material, until the town is full.

Member Since:

May 27, 2005

Members:

Influences:

Joseph Arthur, Lyle Lovett, Nick Drake, Bjork, Ed Harcourt, Sufjan Stevens, Carla Bozulich/The Geraldine Fibbers, Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed, Elliott Smith, Portishead, Giant Sand, Elvis Costello, Shivaree, Johnny Cash, Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Radiohead, Steely Dan, Wilco/Uncle Tupelo, David Poe, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell (mid to late-period), Cat Power, The Cowboy Junkies, Duncan Sheik, Suzanne Vega, Sonic Youth, My Brightest Diamond, David Wojnarowicz ... .. .. ....

Sounds Like:

DUDLEY SAUNDERS: The Emergency Lane A mix of Hank Williams country, Joni Mitchell-jazz and Radiohead art-rock

Or DOWNLOAD: ..

Record Label:

Fang; All songs written by Dudley Saunders © 2006