The Winding Sheet by Dudley Saunders

The Winding Sheet by Dudley Saunders

Are Dudley Saunders’ “underground” years finally over? After nearly two decades spent crafting haunting, “character-study” songs out of the spotlight, Dudley’s third album THE EMERGENCY LANE ended 2009 the surprise winner of the Outmusic Award for “Outstanding Album of the Year”.

A “life-on-the-edge” portrait-painter in the Tom Waits/Rickie Lee Jones mold, Dudley gives his story-songs an extra, post-modern twist: a lilting folk-jazz love song turns out to be laced with S&M sex (LOVE SONG FOR JEFFREY DAHMER), or a vivid portrait of New York street whores stops midway through for a decidedly unromantic re-write (THE RAIN ON 8th AVENUE). Nothing quite comes out straight in Dudley’s music.