Buddy Mondlock writes songs. He does it so well that some
great songwriters have recorded his songs on their own albums.
Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith and Janis Ian, to name just a
few. But there’s nothing like hearing the guy who wrote
‘em sing ‘em. He’s not going to pin your
ears back with those songs. He’s going to draw you
into his world. Where a single snowflake follows the trajectory
of a relationship, where you get your pocket picked by a
Roman cat, where you might swim over the edge of the world
if you’re not careful and where dreams that don’t
come true still count. And it can all be happening in a
little folk club or on a stage by a grassy hill or in someone’s
living room or in the Royal Albert Hall.
His new album, “The Edge of the World,” is his
most personal recording to date. The song cycle is an introspective
journey from childhood through to the recent breakup of
a marriage and beyond. And while always a wry observer of
the social interactions of human beings, the song “Big
Fish, Shallow Water” takes on a political edge as well.
Buddy did most of the playing and singing himself, with
a little help from longtime friend, bassist Mike Lindauer.
Then coproducer Jim Tullio added just the right sonic touches
of percussion and atmospheric guitar to glue it all together.
When Buddy’s not on the road you can find him in
Nashville but he grew up in Park Forest Illinois, a suburb
of Chicago. He didn’t have a troubled childhood. His
parents were nice to him. They paid for guitar lessons when
he was ten and they never said, “when are you going
to get a real job?” He sang Crosby, Stills and Nash
songs with his sisters and answered his little brother’s
questions from the top bunk. A few years away at college
puzzling over Homer and Plato and then he was back. Living
in the big city this time and playing open mics at Chicago’s
crucible for songwriters in those days, the famed Earl of
Old town. He once opened for the amazing Steve Goodman there
on
New Year’s Eve. Buddy was 21. Says he could have walked
out of there that night and gotten hit by a bus and he wouldn’t
have felt like life cheated him at all.
When Buddy made his first trip to Texas Guy Clark heard
him singing one of his songs undera tree at the Kerrville
Folk Festival and liked it. So Guy went back to Nashville,
opened the door and said, “listen to this kid, he’s
good!” A publishing deal and a U-Haul headed south
soon followed. People were starting to pay attention. In
1987 he was a New Folk Award Winner at Kerrville and he
released his first album called “On the Line”.
David Wilcox recorded “The Kid” on his first record
for A&M. Buddy did some writing with this other new
kid in town named Garth Brooks (they had the same manager).
Janis Ian heard him singing at the Bluebird Cafe and asked
him if he’d like to write with her. Their song “Amsterdam”
got recorded by Joan Baez. Nanci Griffith asked Buddy to
sing ona show she was taping for Irish television. She ended
up liking that song so much that she recorded “Comin’
Down In the Rain” on her Grammy Award winning collection
“Other Voices, Other Rooms.”Garth became a star
and “Every Now and Then” ended up on his album
“The Chase.”
Buddy was touring all over the country by this time playing
coffeehouses and the occasional festival (he was a regular
on the main stage at Kerrville by now). And there were trips
to Europe too. Buddy’s second album, produced by Steve
Addabbo, got picked up by Son Records, a small label in
Ireland started by the lads from U2 and he was well received
on the island of poets. 1996 was a good year. Peter, Paul
and Mary recorded “The Kid” and then asked the
kid himself to sing with them on their “Great Performances”
TV special. He won a Kerrville Music Award for song
of the year that autumn for “The Kid” too.
In 1998 he released his third album, “Poetic Justice,”
and it got picked up by EMI Records in Canada and Ireland
and by Proper Music in the UK when British DJ Bob Harris
began playing songs from it on BBC radio. Tours with fellow
Nashville songwriter Carol Elliott followed to an enthusiastic
reception by both sets of fans.
It was that same year that Buddy was approached by producer
Billy Mann who had a unique project in mind. Buddy colaborated
with the legendary Art Garfunkel and the wonderfully musical
Maia Sharp. The three of them wrote and recorded an album
together called “Everything Waits To Be Noticed,”
released on Manhattan/EMI in 2002 to critical acclaim.The
trio toured all over America and Europe in support, singing
together like feathers in a wing.
Now Buddy’s back with a new solo recording, hitting
the road performing and leading songwriting workshops, and
of course, writing songs. Cause that’s what he does
and that’s who he is. Lean in and listen, you won’t
be sorry.
