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With the release of his latest album, "Stories"
Hodgkins is an artist at the top of his form.
Hodgkins has been making records for more
than 35 years.
His early career brought him from the south
of England to Germany at the height of the
first British invasion.
As the lead singer in the Crescendos, he
scored overnight number one hits and toured
extensively and successfully.
But as musical tastes changed, so did
Hodgkins´s music.
In the 1970´s he took time off from touring
and live performance and worked as a
contract songwriter, recording European hits
of his own while writing songs which had
worldwide success.
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country music had its first European ascent, he saw the parallels
between what was beeing produced in Nashville and his own
earliest musical adventures, playing skiffle music on the south coast
of England. His timing was excellent and backed by his
now-legendary Boss Band, Hodgkins became one of
Europe´s leading proponents of country music, writing and
performing songs both in German and English.
Some of his German titles have sold hundreds of thousands of
copies on various samplers and the songs remain a popular
part of his live show today
up the German country music scene and he went
to Nashville with Boss Band bassist Stephen
Ferron and teamed up with Grammy Award
winning producer/engineer Bil VornDick to make
the album he´d been thinking about for years.
Bil VornDick and Joe Hodgkins contracted some
of Nashville´s most sought after studio players,
collected an album´s worth of strong material,
and went to work on Stories, a project which
defined the current state, not so much of country
music, but of "rural roots rock" - decidedly
American music with a slight British accent.
The songs range from the plaintive ballad
"Blue, Blue Tears" to the aggressive southern
rocker "Alabama Tags".
In between a wide range of musical styles are
held together by Hodgkins´s voice,
which sounds better than ever.
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clever tune which lodges itself in listeners´ ears immediately
and refuses to go away. Hodgkins has long been appreciated
for his songwriting and his contibutions are melodic and memorable.
A musical highlight is the duet which Joe sings with Tim O´Brien on
one of Tim´s songs, "Untold Stories", which had previously been
a hit for Kathy Mattea. Session guitarist Tom Wild said of this cut,
"I love Kathy´s version of this song but I do believe that this one
is better." He´s right. O´Brien is also know for his own albums
along with his years of fronting Hot Rize, the stellar bluegrass band.
He also contributed mandolin on "Untold Stories."
One of the things which makes the new album unique is that every
song is a solid performance.
Hodgkins and Ferron reviewed hundreds of songs before
selecting this collection.
There´s not a weak cut on the album.
VornDick coaxed spectecular performances out of his studio musicans - the tracks are alive. Joe´s vocals are
supported by some of the best background singers in the business, Lisa Silver, Bruce Dees, Chip Davis and
Margie Cates. Careful readers of liner notes will notice that acoustic guitarist Mark Casstevens took time off from his
support of artists like Garth Brooks to participate in the recording of Stories.
Hodgkins says, "I knew that I was at a point in my career that I had to do something very special. I´ve enjoyed the
success I had recording in German but it was time to sing in my mother tongue again. And it had to be recorded in
Nashville. Nothing you´ve heard about the place can prepare you for how good the musicans are and how hard
everyone works in the studio. The fans are reacting really well to the album and I know that we are all very proud of the
results. And I hope that my old fans will listen to it with an open mind." Then Joe Hodgkins flashed his famous smile
and adds, "I hope radio programmers will do the same thing."
Joe Hodgkins has shown that the benefits of experience outweigh considerations of age in making great music.
His new album is a challenge to all the European-based country musicans to aim higher than they have in the past.