Bud Buckley Acoustic Guitarist from Venice, FL

Bud Buckley is a singer/songwriter with a new critically acclaimed CD who also covers hits from the 60's to the present. His album was Number One for 10 weeks on London's web radio chart. Bud's soothing vocal blend of classic folk /pop/rock with contemporary acoustic sounds is the very essence of music that would happen if Dylan ever managed to swallow Paul Simon and James Taylor and their guitars. He never fails to please his audience with his sound whether he's covering oldies or performing acoustic versions of his own tunes. He also can, on request, play to backing tracks for a whole band sound. Drawing strong comparisons to Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler, Bud Buckley has come on to the indie acoustic rock scene by blending thoughtful fingerstyle acoustic guitar with thoughtful vignette-style lyrics. His second CD, It's About Time, was released at the end of 2007 and brought more of the same musical stylings after his debut release, Feel My Love, in 2004. Overall, however, the 10-track CD has a more mature, refined tone. "Can't Leave My Mind," features intricate strings precisely mixed while Bud's thoughtful lyrics depict an endearing relationship. In it, he sings, "You blow through my hair even when it's still/ I feel you in everything you've touched/ You seep into me against my will." His track "Underground" offers a true acoustic rock sound ala John Mellencamp with a humane message as he sings, "The air is getting filthy so we'll call it nice and clean/ The rivers run with mercury and the fish are turning mean." "To me songs are more about the words and the vocal delivery. My lyrics speak to our humanity, our wins and losses, our draws and each of those is equally valuable. I also strive not to use clichés either lyrically or vocally. Damn hard to do in this day and age and still be at all intelligible." It's About Time features appearances by a variety of noted musicians. Helen Avakian, a singer/songwriter who has opened for Mary Chapin Carpenter, Marshall Crenshaw and the New York Philharmonic, produced and contributed acoustic guitar as well as etherial back-up vocals to the album. Other musicians who contributed to It's About Time include Terry Champlin played classical guitar. His music has been performed worldwide by such groups and artists as David Starobin, Evangelos and Liza, The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and The Highlands Symphony. Grammy-nominated producer Scott Petito, who engineered, mixed and mastered at his NRS Studios in Woodstock, NY, and whose recording credits include The Band, James and Livingston Taylor, Mark Knopfler, Keith Richards, Bela Fleck, and Stevie Wonder, played bass, piano, B2 organ, acoustic and electric guitar. Deni Bonet, a Lilith Fair singer/songwriter/musician who has recorded and/or performed with REM, Sarah McLachlan and Cyndi Lauper, added violin, viola and electric violin. Beth Reineke served as a vocal coach and production assistant. Reviewers have glowed about the release. Creative Loafing called Bud's music "…a sincere set of acoustic folk rock, elevated by mature arrangements." Among a slew of other positive comments have earned Bud a positive reputation. "Bud Buckley makes the kind of music that I want to hear when I listen to the radio, and that's why I don't listen to the radio," claims Chris Propfe of Hailing from Venice, Florida, Bud has also lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Bud spent most of his adult life in the Woodstock, New York, region. A self-taught guitarist, he was also an elementary school teacher. It was then he met his mentor Helen Avakian, a resident Flamenco guitarist at Bard College and multi-talented singer/songwriter, who educated him in fingerstyle guitar. She was a driving force in challenging him to write and worked with Bud's wife, Cathy Lewis, to connect him with voice instructor Leslie Ritter (of the duo Leslie Ritter and Amy Fradon). "Helen set me loose and my musician friend Davis Turner on Amelia Island, Florida, coaxed me to perform. I started doing open mic and bars and coffee houses and started getting steady gigs and eventually had enough material to record two CDs," says Bud. "Writing is my first strength, certainly. But I love the process of striving to become better and better at writing music. The same is true of my performance skills. I like to think I get better all the time. I certainly work at it," says Bud, who plays harmonica as well as guitar. Bud's music has been featured on compilation CDs such as Moozikoo's Best of Indies and Indie Music for Life, Positively Music Benefit Music Compilation and Quickstar's Chill Out. His song "Crowded Memory" has been placed in a public service advertisement in California.