China Grove North Carolina. Not the town that the Doobie Brothers sang about in their mega 70's hit. It is however the hometown of Keith Dudley. And it just so happens to be the title song of Keith's debut country album.
The road from China Grove to where Keith is now has been somewhat interesting. The product of a divorced home, Keith was raised by his mom and grandparents. During the early years of his life, Keith's mom exposed him to a wide variety of music genres. Dee Dee, as her friends called her, loved the soulful sounds of Motown. As a result of this, Keith still refers to Otis Redding as the greatest singer who ever lived. "Otis sang with passion and pain" remarks Keith. Other influences were Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Joe Cocker. In the middle of all this soul, Dee also gave Keith a healthy dose of country favorites. One of her favorites was the country crooning of one Merle Haggard. "One of my favorite songs of Hag's was, I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink".
While Dee was keeping Keith well inundated with R&B and soul, the grandparents were strong people of faith. Most of his weekends were spent at the grandparent's house. On Sundays there were no negotiations, you went to church. Keith's dad abandoned him and his two sisters when he was eight. This led Keith to idolize his grandfather, Lawrence. His grandfather pointed the way toward Keith developing his faith in God. "God became my refuge, a safe place I learned to run to in times of crisis." The small church became Keith’s home away from home. It was here he learned he truly had a passion for music.
At 13 he wrote his first song. "I wrote it on this really old upright piano. I didn't know how to play, and I only used 3 fingers. I had more fingers than that, but I could only get 3 of them to work." Keith was a natural at baseball in school. While still in middle school his coaches began the prep work to make Keith ready for college baseball. In high school, knee surgeries put an end to those dreams. Keith fell heavily into music and church.
After years of life on the gospel road, Keith landed a major recording contract in the mid 1990's. He charted two top 5 singles from his Benson Music Group project entitled, Talk About It.
Keith's frienship with Mark Harris, a member of the Dove Award winning group, 4Him, helped create a songwriting partnership that produced several number one songs. In 2000, Keith was nominated for a Dove Award for the song, The Hand Of God. These songs got the attention of famed music publishing company, Acuff/Rose Music Publishing, in Nashville, TN. Keith signed a songwriting/publishing deal with Acuff/Rose Music Publishing. Acuff/Rose was one of the world's largest publishing companies, and was home to songwriting legends such as Dean Dillon, Skip Ewing, Kenny Chesney, and others. "I was so fortunate to have had a chance to be a part of the same family as these amazing writers." It was here where Keith began writing country music. "I fell in love with the honesty of writing while I was around the country guys. I did my best to study the craft of songwriting, and watch and learn as much as I could from my days at Acuff Rose."
At the end of Keith's publishing deal in Nashville, he spent the next 7 years in the cable TV business as executive vice president of one network, and CEO and Chairman of another start-up cable network. Keith has now returned to his first love, making music.
With the help of some of the world's greatest musicians and writers, Keith's CD project China Grove is now ready for release. Industry legends such as Michael Omartian (Michael Bolton, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Steely Dan), Chris Rodriguez (Keith Urban, Kenny Loggins), and Mark Childers (Carrie Underwood, Chely Wright) lend thier recording talents to this project. Keith says, "This project is really a collection of all the styles that have influenced me; I call it a collision. I feel like we have some great songs with great players; I couldn't really ask for more." One of Keith's biggest supporters has been Grammy Award winning producer/songwriter, Michael Omartian.
Michael says, "I have been involved with Keith Dudley's new project for quite some time. At this point in the process, I am convinced that there is a very cohesive, musical and very commercial album being birthed. I have had the opportunity to be involved with many big selling records. I say that not to bring attention to me, but to say that I have been taught that there are definite criteria that make up a hit record, and I can say with confidence that Keith has this in abundance on this project. The songs are wonderful and soulful, and his voice is amazing. I will help Keith find the right home for this record and will make every effort to see that all options are exhausted to insure that he gets what I feel he deserves."
Keith, Thank you for adding me to your circle of friends. I'm excited that my romance suspense novel with a 12-song CD soundtrack is due out this fall. 5 of the songs are uploaded on myspace. A short description of my book can be found on my blog. Wishing you a great musical summer.
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CountryHome Forum have more than 5,000 members. Each news you submit to CountryHome Forum will released to my weekly Newsletter with more than 50,000 readers.
Please submit your artist news and events to CountryHome Forum to help your artists to get well known better in Europe. If you do not have the time to submit your artist news and events by yourself, please send it me to: Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de and I will submit them by myself to CountryHome Forum.
I know that many artists from North America don't have their music videos uploaded to German video websites. The most popular websites are MyVideo.de and ClipFish.de. That means your European audience does not have the chance to find them.
I understand that most of you don't speak German and are not able to upload videos because of the language barrier. If you would like me to upload your videos to the German video websites, please let me know.
Thanks
Christian
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de
YOUR SONGS HAVE REALLY TOUCHED ME CUZZ!!! GOD AS GIVEN YOU SUCH GREAT TALENT!!! LOVE YA!!! CANT WAIT TILL THE FAMILY CAN GET TOGETHER AGAIN ITS BEEN TO LONG!!
KEITH, THINKING OF YOU MY SWEET FRIEND AND SENDING MANY WISHES YOUR WAY FOR A VERY HAPPY JULY 4TH !!! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE HOLIDAY AND THE BIG LONG HOLIDAY WEEKEND. MY HOPES ARE THAT YOU WILL NOT ONLY REMEMBER OUR TROOPS (PAST AND PRESENT) DURING THIS VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAY BUT ALSO SAY A SPECIAL PRAYER FOR THEM. I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND AND I HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REST, RELAX, HAVE LOTS OF FUN, ENJOY YOURSELF AND BE ABLE TO SPEND GOOD QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR LOVED ONES, YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS MY WONDERFUL FRIEND. PLEASE ENJOY YOURSELF BUT MOST OF ALL TAKE CARE AND BE SAFE !!!! LOVE & HUGGSSS & BLESSINGS ........ BONNIE
Thanks for the add! I'm giving away a free CD every week to new friends who sign up for my monthly newsletter. Visit my profile to sign up today! Follow the link on my profile to download a free mp3 of the single 'Closin' Time'.
Hey Keith! How is my brother doing? Hope all is well and that you're able to enjoy the weekend! We need to chat sometime.....Geoff suggested it. :) God bless, ~Steve
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