Album Notes

You’ll swear you’ve heard these songs before when you first play the debut album of King Ludd. That’s because King Ludd’s self-titled album is packed to the gill with timeless original and tasty traditional old time, bluegrass, and country songs. You’ll be humming King Ludd’s songs like you’ve known them all your life. Their choruses just will not leave you alone. You will notice King Ludd and their live studio recording has a unique international folk flavor. Have you ever heard Old timey, Irish, and Greek played with King Ludd’s barebones acoustic mayhem style? Not until you take a listen to their debut album! But when you talk about King Ludd--and you will--you will likely say that King Ludd is rousingly reminiscent of Old Crow Medicine Show and The Wilders.

King Ludd is an acoustic trio hailing from Seattle and Bellingham, WA. King Ludd is Scott Miles, Gordon Assadi, and Sky Darwin. Their combined experience as gigging musicians spans several decades. Their musical talent spans numerous instruments and countless styles. Scott is the trio’s primary songwriter, singer and source of melodic infection. He backs each song up with his instrument-busting attack on clawhammer banjo, acoustic guitar or Irish bouzouki. Gordon infuses the trio with the fire of his fiddle, playing from his heart old time, bluegrass, middle-eastern, gypsy and classical styling. Sky’s upright bass playing is the soul of the band, holding it all together and driving each song forward with the taste of a jazzer and the grace of classicist. Sky will also break out the high lonesome tenor harmonies.

King Ludd recorded their debut album in November and December 2006 with engineer David Lavin at Hercules Studios (http://www.herculesstudios.com/) in Seattle, WA. Each track on the album was recorded live in a small room, with vocal-harmony overdubs, to maintain the rare energy of a King Ludd performance. The album will keep you dancing all night with 14 tracks – 10 songs, 3 instrumental tunes, and one hidden track with the universal protest of the country bass player.

King Ludd’s new album gets you going with the first track, Two In My Bed. This song is an angst-ridden lament of muddled loving and drinking, inspired, as they say, by true (or not-so-true) events. Watch out for the sin-washing improvisational jam at the end of this song. The cheating tables have turned with track 2: Done Me Wrong. This is a catchy bluegrass song with three-part harmonies about a wife losing interest and her husband losing interest in his life. This was written ten years ago when Scott got his hands on his first bluegrass instrument--a mandolin. Three Speed--track 3--is a solo banjo piece that puts Scott’s intense clawhammer playing on display. Imagine yourself riding the steep hills of Seattle with a heavy, old Schwinn three-speed. Just about everyone says that Two Smiles--the song of track 4--is their favorite. That’s because everyone has come across that someone and jumped in heart first, only to land headfirst. Or it might be that the harmonies stick in your craw all day long. Track 5 is called Loretta and is a cowboy blues song if there ever was one. Gordon’s fiddle never stops weeping, while Scott never stops wailing about something that really never happened. Moving On Without You--track 6--is Scott’s nod to Johnny Cash, as well as to his best friends and their oft-broke hearts. Be amazed as Sky and Gordon keep up with this blazing-fast bluegrass song! Track 7 is a little-known Bob Dylan song called Let Me Die In My Footsteps about the cold war and nuclear bomb-shelter drills. Just like Old Crow Medicine Show did with Dylan’s Wagon Wheel, King Ludd has managed to tweak a great Dylan song and make you want to listen to it more and more. Sure everyone and their uncle have done Oh Suzanna, track 8, but you’ve never heard an arrangement like this one. Warning: Some listeners may need to adjust their pacemakers when the singing stops on this song. That’s an Irish bouzouki you hear at the beginning of track 9: Gonna Be Okay. We all get down and lonely; Scott wrote this song to get us all back up again. Gordon and Sky dispense this anti-depressant with three very different instrumental breaks. Speaking of very different, there is Gordon’s first fiddle solo tune--Hasapiko--on track 10. Gordon’s bow is just about to get away from him at every turn during this untraditionally played traditional Greek piece. Get yourself a pint so you can weep along in your beer to Another Song, which is track 11. That’s what Scott was doing after a dateless evening watching one of his songwriting heroes. Sky’s bass bowing gives this brew a full body, while Gordon’s haunting violin draws it all to a fine head. Track 12 gets your head bobbing with Gordon’s second extraordinary fiddle solo, playing Barbara Lamb’s Road to Silverton. Pat your tum, chew bubble gum, and just try to resist dancing to the high-intensity rendition of Fly Around, which rounds out the album at track 13.