Hope he doesn't mind the pigeon-holing, but those are some of the musician/songwriters that were coming to mind as I sat at my usual "Live Music/wi-fi" location, as Judson McKinney ran through his set on Friday night.
Usually, when the musicians start, is when ZD exits and moves on to the next (more chill) wi-fi location. But before I had a chance to leave, I started to notice the guy on stage for open mic was something worth looking up from my computer screen to check out.
And as he went through his set-list (acoustic guitar and mic), not only didn't I not want to leave...but, I wanted to stay. (About a once a decade experience.)
He's kinda like Roy Orbison or Buddy Holly in the sense that when you hear the voice, the image does not match what you would expect. This guy Judson is real clean-cut, with glasses...I think you call it a "preppy" look. He just graduated college and moved to Los Angeles in January of this year from the South Carolina.
And he looks just as "fresh off the bus" as anyone I have ever seen. (He proudly asked the crowd, "Anyone here from South Carolina!?!?" (As if it were Kid Rock asking, "Anyone here from DE-troit, Michigan...in DE-TROIT, Michigan.)
And for someone who is not from the streets, and so young, is why some of his dark themed lyrics really blew me away. I was amazed at how someone so young could be singing about the dark side like Bruce Springsteen.
But his sound is more like some of the other artists mentioned, and his voice is most noteworthy. (Cause a lot of times the songwriting and performance is blown by sout of tune, "pitchy" vocals (as Randy Jackson would call it.).
This guy has one of those sweet voices like Paul Simon.
After his set, I let him know how he blew me away. Clive Davis has got to find this guy. Here are five songs by Judson McKinney that sound great...but the good thing about Judson (as with the best, true artists); it comes off even better LIVE!
So, I don't want to make TOO big of a deal, cause John Mayer or Jack Johnson couldn't live up to the build-up at this point: But the point is, I think I just heard some guy out of nowhere last night that's in the category of all the other people mentioned above. So don't over analyze it, and some of you may become BIG fans. And the good news is, it's pretty easy to check him out LIVE, now, without having to go to Staples Center.
Click here for player if it doesn't open in this thread.
"Hawaii" and "Airplane Bound" are a little more up and fun, the rest are great, too, on the softer side. And you might hear some faith-based stuff, like when U2 came out...so I wanted to warn you upfront. (JOKING!)
Judson's Myspace
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