I’m a husband and a father. I do a lot of the cooking, and I do most of the dishes at home. My favorite moments are the little ones - watching my son catch a line drive in the outfield, floating in the pool with my wife, and watching the sunset over the Leander, Texas hills from my backyard.

When I play live music at a venue, which isn’t often, it’s usually myself and an acoustic guitar - although my dogs get to hear me sing and play quite a bit. In my youth, there were full bands on a stage, mainly with my brother playing next to me. I tried to write lyrics on my computer for awhile, but switched back to a pen and paper. It just seems to work better. I try to write songs that capture a little bit of our humanity, something that the current world tends to strip away from people.

My family is from Oklahoma, but I was born and lived most of my childhood in Wisconsin. My Mom and Dad aren’t musicians, but music was always a big deal in our house. Late 50’s and early 60’s rock n’ roll were in constant rotation. Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran (my Mom’s cousin), Elvis, and Ricky Nelson were larger than life. My maternal grandmother was one of my favorite people I’ve ever met, and I was lucky enough to know her into my adulthood. My older sister introduced me to Wham and Duran Duran. My younger sister was my best friend. I spent the summers of my teens delivering newspapers and playing beach volleyball on the Lake Michigan shore. We skied a lot in Northern Michigan during the winters. We’d load up the family van, and head up for the weekend.

I started piano lessons in 4th grade. When I was in middle school, my jazz band teacher made everyone take a 12 bar improvisational solo in the key of “b flat.” It was the first time that I realized every song I’d ever heard was just someone’s idea that they made up in their head. The first CD’s I bought were Led Zeppelin IV and Eric Clapton Journeyman, although I had a dubbed cassette of Aerosmith’s Pump that was on constant rotation in my car (which only had a tape player).

I went to college in California, and my sophomore year, I lived in Germany. My Grandmother bought me a guitar so I could have an instrument to play while I was over there. I’d sit in the walk-in closet of a room that I shared with 3 other guys, and strum until my fingers bled or until I couldn’t feel them anymore. I learned to play a lot of songs with 3 chords in them, and started writing my own songs as well. In my 20s, I formed a band with my brother. We played a lot of great clubs in Los Angeles, and took an extended vacation that included playing shows around the country while staying at a number of KOA campsites. 

These days, I live in the Texas hill country. The end of my backyard drops into a small canyon that has a spring at the bottom of it along with a hiking trail. I go skateboarding with my son as often as I can, and he’s constantly doing tricks that I’m not even close to attempting. On weekend afternoons in the summer, my wife and I like to float in the pool, plan future adventures, and talk about life.

Shannon Hudson