China Grove North Carolina. Not the town that the Doobie Brothers sang about in their mega 70's hit. It is however the hometown of Keith Dudley. And it just so happens to be the title song of Keith's debut country album.
The road from China Grove to where Keith is now has been somewhat interesting. The product of a divorced home, Keith was raised by his mom and grandparents. During the early years of his life, Keith's mom exposed him to a wide variety of music genres. Dee Dee, as her friends called her, loved the soulful sounds of Motown. As a result of this, Keith still refers to Otis Redding as the greatest singer who ever lived. "Otis sang with passion and pain" remarks Keith. Other influences were Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Joe Cocker. In the middle of all this soul, Dee also gave Keith a healthy dose of country favorites. One of her favorites was the country crooning of one Merle Haggard. "One of my favorite songs of Hag's was, I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink".
While Dee was keeping Keith well inundated with R&B and soul, the grandparents were strong people of faith. Most of his weekends were spent at the grandparent's house. On Sundays there were no negotiations, you went to church. Keith's dad abandoned him and his two sisters when he was eight. This led Keith to idolize his grandfather, Lawrence. His grandfather pointed the way toward Keith developing his faith in God. "God became my refuge, a safe place I learned to run to in times of crisis." The small church became Keith's home away from home. It was here he learned he truly had a passion for music.
At 13 he wrote his first song. "I wrote it on this really old upright piano. I didn't know how to play, and I only used 3 fingers. I had more fingers than that, but I could only get 3 of them to work." Keith was a natural at baseball in school. While still in middle school his coaches began the prep work to make Keith ready for college baseball. In high school, knee surgeries put an end to those dreams. Keith fell heavily into music and church.
After years of life on the gospel road, Keith landed a major recording contract in the mid 1990's. He charted two top 5 singles from his Benson Music Group project entitled, Talk About It.
Keith's frienship with Mark Harris, a member of the Dove Award winning group, 4Him, helped create a songwriting partnership that produced several number one songs. In 2000, Keith was nominated for a Dove Award for the song, The Hand Of God. These songs got the attention of famed music publishing company, Acuff/Rose Music Publishing, in Nashville, TN. Keith signed a songwriting/publishing deal with Acuff/Rose Music Publishing. Acuff/Rose was one of the world's largest publishing companies, and was home to songwriting legends such as Dean Dillon, Skip Ewing, Kenny Chesney, and others. "I was so fortunate to have had a chance to be a part of the same family as these amazing writers." It was here where Keith began writing country music. "I fell in love with the honesty of writing while I was around the country guys. I did my best to study the craft of songwriting, and watch and learn as much as I could from my days at Acuff Rose."
At the end of Keith's publishing deal in Nashville, he spent the next 7 years in the cable TV business as executive vice president of one network, and CEO and Chairman of another start-up cable network. Keith has now returned to his first love, making music.
With the help of some of the world's greatest musicians and writers, Keith's CD project China Grove is now ready for release. Industry legends such as Michael Omartian (Michael Bolton, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Steely Dan), Chris Rodriguez (Keith Urban, Kenny Loggins), and Mark Childers (Carrie Underwood, Chely Wright) lend thier recording talents to this project. Keith says, "This project is really a collection of all the styles that have influenced me; I call it a collision. I feel like we have some great songs with great players; I couldn't really ask for more." One of Keith's biggest supporters has been Grammy Award winning producer/songwriter, Michael Omartian.
Michael says, "I have been involved with Keith Dudley's new project for quite some time. At this point in the process, I am convinced that there is a very cohesive, musical and very commercial album being birthed. I have had the opportunity to be involved with many big selling records. I say that not to bring attention to me, but to say that I have been taught that there are definite criteria that make up a hit record, and I can say with confidence that Keith has this in abundance on this project. The songs are wonderful and soulful, and his voice is amazing. I will help Keith find the right home for this record and will make every effort to see that all options are exhausted to insure that he gets what I feel he deserves."
