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 fifteen years and continues to be a crowd favorite wherever he shows up.
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. When he was in college, 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. Then the trips to Nashville began. A friend took him there for the first time and his view of the music business was forever changed. He was a very small fish in a big ol' country music pond. Through the humbling experiences, Bares absorbed what he could and the trips continued. Never to negotiate a big record deal, or meet with some label ‘big wig’, but just to be part of the Nashville furniture.
In 2006, Judd signed a recoding deal with indy label D&R Records. Basically, this was the last brick in the wall...the connections were there, the ability was there-the label would give him the resources to do what he had always dreamed of doing. He decided to play one of the cards that he had been delt in one of the earlier trips to Nashville. Judd 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 Michael Knox and Dan Frizsell, both accomplished Nashville producers, 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 Dan Friszell-produced debut album ‘What’s Not to Love?’ We hope you find it as interesting and entertaining as the journey to get it recorded was. If you see judd out on the road, he'll be glad to share the details over a cold one.