At a rural crossroads in northeastern North Carolina stands a lone country store. It's quiet now, but in its heyday it was alive with homemade music that seemed to seep through its walls and floorboards. People traveling through the countryside on their way to bigger destinations would stop in for gas and a bottled cola. They were drawn to it because of its quaint charm; they returned to it year after year because the music they found inside altered their souls.
The proprietor and music-maker was Charlie Hodges. Visitors urged him to pick up the fiddle he kept in arm's reach to play a lonesome bluegrass tune. Others wanted his version of a George Jones classic picked on his old, beat-up, almost-in-tune Fender. Charlie's tastes were varied, but selective. He was as at ease covering Johnny Cash as he was Led Zeppelin. From CCR to Patsy Cline, from James Taylor to his hero, Chet Atkins, Charlie had a tune for every occasion, and for everyone. Charlie lived for music and for his family - and he wound the two up tightly together because he knew they were the only things that would endure . . .
Today, at another crossroads -- where Americana and rock intersect, and adult contemporary, blues and soul merge -- stands a singer/songwriter grown up in eclectic musical tradition. Enter Chuck Hodges, born of a bluegrass fiddler into a blue-collar family in the flatlands of coastal North Carolina. In creating a sound that is at once urban and grassroots, Chuck draws from a deep and diverse well of musical influence. Raised on Hee-Haw and Austin City Limits, classically trained on piano and self-taught on blues-rock guitar, Chuck combines diverse subject matter, clever turns-of-phrase and devastating hooks to create a genre-defying musical amalgam that will keep you wondering what he'll do next. The end result: a smoky vibe laid over driving guitar rhythms and sublime grooves, all delivered in a smooth-as-molasses vocal style for a sound that's part alt-country, part Americana and part modern rock - and smothered with soulfulness.
Like an old friend you never knew you had, Chuck's music greets you with a familiarity that's almost palpable. Startlingly revelatory lyrics and instantly memorable melodies invoke nearly every human emotion as songs about truth, love, heartache and hope unfold like the melodic chapters in a musical book. Unabashed and disarming, and with a voice that's at once wounded yet hopeful, Chuck writes songs that draw you in with their rich imagery, and then keep you with their musicality.
In an age where flash is too often regarded over substance, and where "here today -- gone later today" is considered the norm, Chuck's musical stylings are a refreshing alternative. So take a detour, a way you've never taken, and see where the road leads you.
And remember, it truly is all about the songs . . .