Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Buddy Mondlock returns to Sundilla for the first time in a decade on Friday, July 31; he’ll be bringing Mike Lindauer to play bass. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door will be $12, but advance tickets are just $10 and are available at Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s Coffee, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. At every Sundilla concert you’ll find free coffee, tea, water and food, and attendees are invited to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer.
Buddy Mondlock is well-known as a songwriter, a singer and a performer, and though his career has been highly successful, parts of it can be summed up quite simply. As a songwriter, he’s “the guy who has had his songs recorded by Guy Clark, Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Garth Brooks, Peter, Paul & Mary, Janis Ian, David Wilcox and Maura O’Connell, just to name a few.” As a performer, he’s “the guy who Guy Clark heard before immediately walking into a Nashville publishing house with the demand ‘Listen to this kid and sign him now; he’s good!’” As a singer, he’s “the guy who performed in a group with Art Garfunkel.” (No, “Buddy Mondlock” isn’t an alias for Paul Simon… but he and Garfunkel did indeed team up with Maia Sharp and the trio recorded a CD and toured North America and Europe.)
Often there is much heartbreak and trauma on the road to a career this successful, but not so much in this case. Buddy grew up in a happy home near Chicago, and attended college before hitting the road with his guitar. He mostly played in and around Chicago, and one New Year’s Eve he opened at the famed Earl of Old Town for the legendary Steve Goodman. He was just 21 and says “I could have walked out of there, been hit by a bus, and wouldn’t have felt cheated at all.”
He took his first trip to Texas for the Kerrville Folk Festival, and it was there that Guy Clark first heard him; Clark’s plea of “sign him now!” was heard and soon Mondlock was working in Nashville. Not long after, people started taking notice. In 1987 he was a Kerrville New Folk winner and released his first album, and not long after that he was seeing his songs appear on releases by other performers. David Wilcox recorded “The Kid.” Janis Ian asked if he’d like to write a song with her; they wrote “Amsterdam” and Joan Baez recorded it. Nanci Griffith invited Buddy to perform with her for a TV special she was doing, and soon after included Buddy’s “Coming Down As the Rain” on her “Other Voices, Other Rooms” CD. A guy he’d done some writing with when he got to Nashville started doing really well and recorded “Every Now and Then” for his CD called “The Chase.” (That was 1992 and that guy’s name was Garth Brooks, and in 1992 there was NOBODY bigger than Garth Brooks.)
It was an exciting and eventful five years for a guy who was really just starting out! And things have continued to be good. There have been regular tours of America and Europe, several CD releases, a song recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary (followed by a television appearance with them), a few awards (including “Song of the Year”.) And in 2003 he teamed with Art Garfunkel and Maia Sharp; they recorded a CD and toured this continent, and overseas.
Despite his success as a recording artist, as a solo performer and as a member of a group, Buddy Mondlock will forever be known as a songwriter. He does it so well that some great songwriters have recorded his songs on their own albums. Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith and Janis Ian are just a few of them; names familiar to Sundilla fans, like Tom Kimmel and Pierce Pettis, are also on that list. But there’s nothing like hearing the guy who wrote them sing them. 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. He does it in little folk clubs and on a stage by a grassy hill, in someone’s living room or in the Royal Albert Hall. When Buddy Mondlock grabs his guitar and does his thing, it’s always a magical evening for the audience. And on July 31, that audience is us.
Buddy Mondlock– accompanied by Mike Lindauer on bass– will return to Sundilla for the first time in a decade on Friday, July 31. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door will be $12, but advance tickets are just $10 and are available at Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s Coffee, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. At every Sundilla concert you’ll find free coffee, tea, water and food, and attendees are invited to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer. For more information, just go to www.sundillamusic.com.