Known as a real songwriters songwriter, poetic and insightful.

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, POP: Beatles-pop



Details:
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 thereâs nothing like hearing the guy who wrote âem sing âem. Heâs not going to pin your ears back with those songs. Heâs 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 youâre not careful and where dreams that donât 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 someoneâs living room or in the Royal Albert Hall.
His new album, âThe Edge of the World,â 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 âBig Fish, Shallow Waterâ 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 Buddyâs not on the road you can find him in Nashville but he grew up in Park Forest Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He didnât have a troubled childhood. His parents were nice to him. They paid for guitar lessons when he was ten and they never said, âwhen are you going to get a real job?â He sang Crosby, Stills and Nash songs with his sisters and answered his little brotherâs 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 Chicagoâs crucible for songwriters in those days, the famed Earl of Old town. He once opened for the amazing Steve Goodman there on New Yearâs Eve. Buddy was 21. Says he could have walked out of there that night and gotten hit by a bus and he wouldnât 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 under a tree at the Kerrville Folk Festival and liked it. So Guy went back to Nashville, opened the door and said, âlisten to this kid, heâs good!â 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 âOn the Lineâ. David Wilcox recorded âThe Kidâ 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 heâd like to write with her. Their song âAmsterdamâ got recorded by Joan Baez. Nanci Griffith asked Buddy to sing on a show she was taping for Irish television. She ended up liking that song so much that she recorded âCominâ Down In the Rainâ on her Grammy Award winning collection âOther Voices, Other Rooms.â Garth became a star and âEvery Now and Thenâ ended up on his album âThe Chase.â
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. Buddyâs 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 âThe Kidâ and then asked the kid himself to sing with them on their âGreat Performancesâ TV special. He won a Kerrville Music Award for song of the year that autumn for âThe Kidâ too.
In 1998 he released his third album, âPoetic Justice,â 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 âEverything Waits To Be Noticed,â 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 Buddyâs back with a new solo recording, hitting the road performing and leading songwriting workshops, and of course, writing songs. Cause thatâs what he does and thatâs who he is. Lean in and listen, you wonât be sorry.