Mudbone

Mudbone took his first professional touring job playing guitar in the Mississippi Delta at age 12. Greyhound buses were the method of travel and the route was right through the heart of the birthplace of American music. Towns like Memphis TN, Clarksdale MS & Indiana MS were on the route and provided both the schoolhouse and the playground for a young aspiring guitarist. This is where a chance conversation with a protégé of blues pioneer Son House would give him his “blues name”. But that is another story for a different day.

After spending his adolescence barnstorming the blues halls and honky tonks of the Mississippi Delta, Mudbone moved to Nashville, TN at the age of 20. He was quickly absorbed into the music scene there and piloted several mildly successful band projects, including “Jackson Hill” which saw moderate local and national success and would eventually sign deals with Arista and Warner Bros. Nashville.

After Jackson Hill, Mudbone began a tenure as a “gun for hire” guitarist for both live performances and in the studio, where he accompanied many artists ranging from up-and-coming hopefuls to icons of the industry. Standing alongside his heroes provided not only an experience of a lifetime, it was also another schoolhouse for this artist to learn and grow. The songwriting and performance lessons learned here were priceless and would give him a springboard to launch his career as an independent artist, which he did with the release of his debut double album(s) “Rivers & Roads”.

Rivers & Roads is a two-part album that bookends 50 years of music expansion. Part one, “Rivers” is akin to a riverboat trip in 1927. Acoustic blues, bluegrass, and gospel music are meshed to combine an image of what American roots music sounded like in the early 20th century. Part two, “Roads” fuses electric blues, rock & roll, funk, and country music into a journey through the sounds of the mid-70s. “Rivers & Roads” was released in two parts onto the Americana Music Association charts in affiliation with TRP and SOL Records in 2018 and 2019 where they charted in the top 100 (#67/#43) AMA Billboard.

In addition to his artistic endeavors, Mudbone also serves as an entertainment coordinator for trade shows, conventions, private events and festivals. He has provided and arranged customized entertainment packages for The National Beef Cattleman Association, The Minnesota Vikings (Board), World Food Championships, TFHA, and The R&DA Military Assistance program just to name a few.