Cary Hudson - Ole Blue (2024)

36 Satisfying Minutes of Pure Laid Back Bluesy Delight. Following in the footsteps of one of my favorite artists/songwriters, JJ Cale, Cary Hudson kicks back and leans into the Blues on his newest record, Ole Blue.
From the jump, Hudson seems to glide effortlessly through a classic 1-4-5 with “Who been Hoodooin’ U?” a slick but still greasy mantra conjuring Hudson’s sultry musical voodoo while introducing us to his Mississippi velvet drawl.

“Delta Darlin” clops along with Harry Nilsson show tune sophistication and a cinematic feel. The croon of Hudson’s voice is ‘small town charming’ and brimming with side-stick pulse while “Queen of the Road” is a fabulous twist on Miller’s “King of the Road” that slips back into a Blues brimming with a hat-full of Jazz. as Vocalist and co-writer, Anna Hudson showcases her many colors and vocal tones in this instant classic. LOVE, Love, Love it!

Hudson is as fine a harmonica player as he is a guitarist and in “Local Honey,” a traditional double-entendre sexy Blues, where he simply but elegantly displays this with a back-woods intuitive authenticity that almost gets you to forget that he’s singing about gettin’ sticky with his second cousin! That’s some local flavor alright!

Hudson’s deft piano skills on “After the Rain” resonate in true songwriter, storyteller tradition. Not at all what I was expecting, but ain’t that cool?!! This song seriously knocked me out. Lyrically it lands on wet ,fertile ground, conjuring rich images of a lush natural world in darkness making it a very emotional song.

“Till the Rivers Run Dry” goes back to that JJ Cale place I love.
Plain and simple and penned with Chesley Pearman, this tune feels like a classic Willie Nelson song — A vibe that lives inside your body for a thousand years and yet still brings tears when Hudson sings:

”…you don’t care how hard I try
still I love you till the rivers run dry.”
An old theme, a familiar sound and the same damn chords yet…..I’m playing it over and over again. When you hear the truth it’s cool to hear that bell of authenticity ring clear and true.

“70’s Song” is everything this songwriter remembers about falling asleep in the backseat of my Mama’s Monte Carlo.
If Hudson could save time in a bottle….it would sound like this song. I can dig it and you will too.

Anna Hudson takes the wheel again on “Goodbye.” This is probably my favorite track on the record for the sheer fact that it’s a bit of an emotional rock symphony. Weighing in at just under 3 minutes, the operatic, vibrato delivery sends a shiver down your spine and when the guitars come in and the drums enter pounding to the beat of your heart, I found myself breathing heavily, wanting this opus to unfold with a happy ending — But oh….The title. The ending is a death — smoking opium won’t help. She’s moving on, Goodbye.

“Velvet Elvis” nearly exploded my brain. I had a band called Velvis (short for Velvet Elvis) years ago, so I dove inside this tune immediately! A stealthy “creeper,” a bluesy Dorian Gray of paranoia and slow-boil chromatic anxiety, “Velvet Elvis” once again weaves Hudson’s guitar, vocal and harmonica into a story of cheap art as a reliable, discreet, omniscient observer of infidelity and provocative behavior. A great idea and an even better song.

The record closes with Hudson illustrating his guitar genius with a tasty, understated number called “Country Funk.” Complete with snorting, crowing, hooting and howling, it’s tempting to think Hudson is yanking our chains and taking the piss here — he might be, and that’s okay, but he’s having a grand time and the band is just where they always need to be. In the pocket and serving the tune.

Ole Blue is 10 songs and 36 satisfying minutes of pure delight. I would have liked more but it’s nice to be left longing instead of wishing it would have ended sooner. Cary Hudson is the genuine article. He’s a songwriter’s songwriter and a musician’s musician.
I know what that means and I hope you do too. He gives us his full spectrum of thoughts and feels and leaves us to decide.

Are these 10 songs all “The Blues” in their many different guises, shapes and shades? Or is Ole Blue just the name of Hudson’s truck on the cover of the album? No matter, Ole Blue is a fantastic record without pretension or flash.

The songs breathe and we are grateful & blessed to bathe in the glow of their well crafted, elegantly performed, precisely recorded splendor.