Judd Bares

A Southwest Louisiana local most all of his life, Judd Bares is the guy that walks in to the country grocery on any given day and will know someone. Not because he plays music, but because he’s one of them. His family is large and well-liked; several aunts and uncles that have come before him have made it easy for him to wear his name…the music has just helped that to continue.



Bares has been playing the fairs, festivals and beer-joints of South Louisiana and Southeast Texas for nearly ten years and continues to be a crowd favorite wherever he shows up. He is a graduate of McNeese State University with a BS in Mass Communications and, by day, an award-winning television producer. Band or solo, he has always worked on keeping himself ‘out there’. For many reasons; talented people come and go, but the staying power of Judd’s career is a true testament to where he is today.



But it all had to start somewhere, right?



College was always a ‘just-in-case’…he’s always wanted to entertain. When he was 21, he taught himself to play on his dad’s old guitar. (I know-you’ve heard this one, right? Hang in there-there’s more). He managed to find his way into the local music scene and assemble his first band. Working his way through college at a car wash, he played four nights a week. After graduation, he started his career in the TV business and played four nights a week. I think you get the drift. It’s called paying dues. All the big boys do it. It’s what makes a singer an entertainer.



Judd maintains that if he were in the situation he is in now 5 years ago, he would not have been ready. He had paid dues, but he had to pay more. He had places to go, people to meet, things to see. That’s when the trips to Nashville began. A friend took him there for the first time and his view on the music business was forever changed. Music Business; he would soon learn that this phrase was grossly inverted.



Through the humbling experiences, Bares continued to learna and the trips continued… every couple of months, sometimes, only once a year. Never to negotiate a big record deal, or meet with some label ‘big wig’, but just to be part of the Nashville furniture. Watching and wondering; listening and learning. Making sure he was getting into the right ring.



Let’s fast forward to 2005. D&R Records is in its infancy and two of the biggest regional acts have just been signed to the same label. The brand’s initial intention was to push the regional fare of Cajun Music. Judd had a phone conversation with Label President (and old college buddy) Drew Guinn, and he joked ‘If you’re looking for a good country act, I happen to know one’.



Chuckle. ‘Ok-I’ll let you know’.

Click.

Ring ‘Are you talking about you?’

Ya think?



D&R had never thought about the country arena…it wasn’t what they did. They knew how to make Cajun music that sold, but how were they going to make country music that sold? This is where some of Bares’ earlier relationships came in to play. Bares asked friend and VP of Broken Bow Records Jim Yerger for some advice. Yerger had always maintained that he would do whatever he could so that Judd got a fair shake in a place where he had seen so many receive the opposite. Bares was put in contact with Dan Frizsell, a Nashville producer, and the journey began. 300 songs and about as many emails and phone calls later, they were ready to go.



The end result is the debut album ‘What’s Not to Love?’ We hope you find it as interesting and entertaining as the journey to get it recorded was.



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