Peter Rudy is not an easy Artist to figure out and that is perhaps where his shear genius may come from. I don't think he wants to be figured out. He just wants to offer up what he has to offer up and you can take it or leave it.

His music is best described in his own words, "The music is folksy, rock ‘n’ roll, white boy bluesy. . .a gumbo. . . .it was made in El Cerrito after all, home of Creedence, so it’s got a good helping of that too" – Peter Rudy. Even the line from his CD Release Notes, "Built From Roots-Rock, Baseball, Mortality & The Apostles of Dirt", may leave you scratching you head, wandering what the heck, but believe me once you start listening to his Debut CD "Mud Shack", you will quickly learn the magic, that is Peter Rudy.

"Mud Shack" consists of 10 tracks, all written by Rudy, a rarity for any debut Album, and runs the gamut between Roots and Rock. From the first few opening tracks, which remind me a little of the beat poetry from the sixties to the Steve Forbert feel on Track 4's "Honus Wagner's Bat". Continuing on to Track 9 where I get a bit of the Stones, "Far Away Eyes" feel on "Let's Get Lost", to the finale, "Backyard Kitchen Beats", which reminds me of Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show. "Mud Shack" seems to be more of a journey than a concept and although it may be similar to all, in styles and textures, it is still totally drenched in Rudy's uniqueness and vocal delivery.

Peter Rudy is backed by the highly credited band, Apostles of Dirt, and the best way I can describe this cohesive mix is to think of Rudy's lyrics as the present and the band as the gift wrapping, carefully folding over each word sung and the spaces between.

"Mud Shack" is simply one of the best not often seen treasures of Americana released in quite a while and will have a lot of people really standing up and taking notice of this ground breaking artist.

"Mud Shack" is a very exceptional Debut Release.

Review By John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)

Other Info And Reviews

Peter Rudy’s Debut CD Mud Shack:

Built From Roots-Rock, Baseball, Mortality & The Apostles of Dirt
Produced By San Francisco (Americana) Giant, Jeffrey Halford – Featuring Special Bay Area Guests

BERKELEY, CA – Peter Rudy has released his debut, Mud Shack, an album that began with a tragedy and
ends in your backyard. “Right after my buddy Fred Oyle died in January of 2009, 'Honus Wagner's Bat' 
just arrived out of thin air one day while I was in a traffic jam in the Maze. I pulled over and wrote it down and
thought I would really like to record this one for Fred,” Peter explains.  

You haven't heard this album yet, but you know it. You know this California. Tip your head to one side and you
can hear the screen door slam and the rain let up. It lets you steal away about a mile down along the river road
where you hang your rain soaked jacket on some old barbed wire and there are barefoot girls with their back
against the fence.  

In short, the man doesn't hide his influences, but no matter how much he loves Joe Strummer and The Mats it can't help but come out sounding like Peter Rudy. When he asks the band for a Stonesy shuffle on “Let's Get Lost” they lay down a groove you could lead Sweet Virginia around the backyard in a barefoot promenade. And what a band he's got in the Apostles of Dirt, an all-star constellation of Bay Area musicians with credits ranging from The Tubes to Lucinda Williams to Mazzy Star: Jeffrey Halford on guitar, Paul Olguin on bass, Adam Rossi on keyboards and Trey Sabatelli on drums. On the instrumental “Holiday at the Beach” they take you there, pitching camp halfway between a Los Lobos campfire strum and Jonathan Richman's “Egyptian Reggae”.

“Jeffrey had this standing offer out to me that anytime, anywhere, any tune he was ready to provide everything needed to make it happen. After I told him about 'Honus' and we decided to record it, a flood of tunes came out and we ended up having a whole CD worth,” Peter sums it up. “And really that's it, that's the offering here. It started with Fred and that just opened up a musical box with a whole mess of stuff inside to pull out.” 

Or to paraphrase Jim Bouton from Ball Four: All that time you thought you were holding on to a song, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around.

“The music is folksy, rock ‘n’ roll, white boy bluesy. . .a gumbo. . . .it was made in El Cerrito after all, home of Creedence, so it’s got a good helping of that too.” – Peter Rudy

‘Mud Shack is the dynamic debut of Peter Rudy backed by the wildly talented Apostles of Dirt.

These are real lusty grooves that the Apostles lay down with sheer delight. They bring out the subtleties of the songwriting, which, coupled with Rudy’s raw approach, turns the music into a real tour de force. The band is quite comfortable tracking Rudy’s musical wanderings and style variations, splattering them with pure, driving emotion.

The controversial San Francisco manager/promoter Alvin Brinkman declared ‘Mud Shack’, “a wonderful nugget, my favorite recording of the year.”  CD Baby

 Tracklist

1. Batter Up 3:36
2. Grow No Better Fast 4:11
3. Dumdedum 4:08
4. Honus Wagner's Bat 4:00
5. Redwood Man 3:42
6. Just the 2 of Me 3:42
7. Mud Shack 4:43
8. Holiday At the Beach 2:56
9. Let's Get Lost 3:14
10. Backyard Kitchen Beats 3:28

Listen To Samples Here...

http://peterrudymudshack.com/