It is probably not possible to understand the depth of North’s music without first knowing his story. He was brought up in the music scene of New York where he was surrounded by great musicians. North was granted an access I.D. to the World Trade Center and he played music there on a weekly basis.
Dutch Artist Judy Blank said anyone who matters in music plays at Americanafest. “It’s what everyone in Nashville talks about year-round,” she said. Still, she wasn’t sure if she was good enough to make the Americanafest roster simply because so many of her heroes were playing there.
The New York City-based Americana duo Joanie and Matt will be releasing an album called Sterling on July 19. The duo first worked together about ten years ago and they wrote a bluegrass album for kids. Over the past decade, both talented singer-songwriters have been working on independent projects and have been highly successful.
“Matt was actually in India living there and I was going through some life changes and I reached out to him about starting a project together and kind of co-writing again,” Joanie recalls. She ended up moving after Matt returned from India and they were only about ten blocks from each other. “We realized from our first meet that the songs were so easy to write and it was a good pairing,” she said.
“I would bring a melody and Joanie would add the lyrics or vice versa,” Matt added. “It was very complimentary and reciprocal.”
The new album has seven tracks, all of which relate to stories in the Bible. “We basically went through the Old Testament and picked out some really interesting and controversial stories,” Joanie said, adding that the duo focused on some stories that may not really have the national attention and may have some backstory behind the story itself. “We really dug into the text. We just went line by line and thought about what the story was about.”
Mudd has somehow captured something that is very difficult to record. The Nicholas Mudd Band has a sound that you might expect to hear sitting around a campfire. These songs sound authentic and personal, almost like he’s talking directly to me. When an artist can make a listener feel that way through a CD, they have something special. One reason Mudd is able to do that is the fact that he wrote all these songs. It’s much easier to be authentic when you are telling someone about your personal experiences.