Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Hudson.
Hi Eddie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Dauphin, Manitoba, a small town in Canada. By the time I was 12, I already knew that whatever I did with my life needed to involve music. Maybe I would become a band teacher. Maybe I would write songs. Maybe I would perform for people. I didn’t know exactly what form it would take, but music was it for me.
What I really wanted was to write and play my own songs for people. This was a perfectly practical ambition, aside from the stability, money and nearly everything else associated with choosing a career.
In 2013, I decided to take it seriously and started traveling and playing across Canada. Unfortunately, my body chose roughly the same time to begin doing some fairly alarming things. My hands and feet went numb, I started limping and I lost the vision in my right eye. I was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
It was terrifying, and it changed the direction of my life. It also changed the reason I made music.
I don’t think people need art that pretends life is easy. I think they need art that acknowledges how hard life can be while still giving them a reason to show up for it. That became the heart of Hudsy: optimistic music for people who believe life is worth showing up for. Joy is a major part of what I do, but not because my life has always been joyful. It’s something I’ve had to choose, protect and occasionally chase down while it runs away screaming.
Along the way, I had the opportunity to meet Jimmy Messina, who gave me advice about songwriting and production. I kept writing, touring and figuring out what kind of performer I actually wanted to be. Eventually, I discovered live looping and realized I could become an entire band by myself, which was perfect because coordinating the schedule of one musician was already difficult enough.
Onstage, I build the drums, bass, guitars and vocals one piece at a time. The technology is fun, but the real point is connection. I bring people into the show, sample their voices, make up songs about their lives and occasionally play a guitar solo behind my head. Is that last part artistically necessary? Probably not. Does it make life slightly better? I believe it does.
That show has taken me to venues and events across 14 states and put me in front of audiences for companies including Toyota, Frito-Lay and Edward Jones. I was also featured by the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show after they saw me perform live. There wasn’t one magical moment where somebody handed me a career. I’ve built it one room, one audience and one “Hey, are you currently booking live music?” email at a time.
Today, I live in Anna, Texas, with my wife and our new son, Miles. Becoming a father has made the music feel even more meaningful—and has taught me that a musician’s sleep schedule was apparently excellent preparation for parenthood.
I’m currently preparing to release *Together, We’re Relentless*, the second part of a three-EP project about struggle, connection, joy and continuing forward when life refuses to follow the extremely reasonable plan you made for it.
I’m still living with MS. I’m still an independent artist balancing creativity, health, family and the financial reality of making music for a living. My story isn’t about everything becoming easy after one big break. It’s about continuing to knock on the door, continuing to create and continuing to believe that joy can be honest, powerful and even defiant.
That is what Hudsy has become: music, humor, improvisation and real human stories meeting in the same room. The audience doesn’t simply watch the show. They help create it—and occasionally discover that something they shouted after two beers is now the chorus of a song.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I mean, no—but I also feel incredibly lucky.
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in May 2014, I had lost the vision in my right eye and was having trouble walking. My brother was with me when the doctor came in being strangely upbeat and asking how music was going. I thought, “Oh, great! I must not have MS.” So I asked him, and he said, “Oh no, you definitely have MS.” His bedside manner had a real plot twist.
Thankfully, those symptoms went away fairly quickly, and because of good medication and taking care of myself, I’ve been symptom-free for years. MS affects my decisions more than it affects my day-to-day life now. I have to pay attention to my health, sleep and energy—which are all things musicians are famously excellent at managing.
The diagnosis did change how quickly I was willing to pursue the life I wanted. I moved to England that August, only three months after being diagnosed. I remember thinking that if MS might eventually take things away from me, I was going to experience as much as I could while the choices were still mine. I didn’t know how much time I had, but I knew I didn’t want to spend it waiting for the “right” moment.
The rest of the struggle has mostly been the reality of building an independent music career. I’m the artist, booking agent, marketer, driver and sound engineer. There have been countless rejections, unanswered emails and impressive-looking opportunities that somehow pay less than a random night at a bar.
Now I’m also a husband and a new father, so I’m balancing the dream with taking care of a family. The music matters deeply to me, but so does formula.
The road hasn’t been smooth, but I think that uncertainty helped create Hudsy. My music is optimistic, not because life has always been easy, but because I know it isn’t. I don’t want to wait for life to become perfect before I enjoy it, create something or connect with people. I’ve tried to build a career—and a show—around that idea.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I perform as Hudsy, which is a live looping show built around music, humor and audience participation. I create the drums, bass, guitar and vocals live, one layer at a time, until I sound like a full band—or until I press the wrong button and briefly sound like a full band falling down the stairs.
What really makes the show different, though, is the audience. I bring people onstage, sample their voices and turn their stories into songs on the spot. Someone can tell me how they met their spouse, give me an embarrassing detail about their friend or simply yell something ridiculous, and suddenly it becomes part of the show. No two performances can ever be exactly the same because the people in the room help create them.
I also write original music that is honest about difficult things without giving up on hope. I’ve sometimes described it as optimistic music for people who believe life is worth showing up for. I’m currently preparing to release *Together, We’re Relentless*, the second part of a three-EP project about struggle, connection and choosing joy even when life makes that difficult.
I’m probably best known for the improvised songs, live looping and occasionally playing guitar behind my head. The show has taken me to events and venues across 14 states, including performances for Toyota, Frito-Lay and Edward Jones. I was also featured by the Kidd Kraddick Morning Show after they saw me perform live.
What I’m most proud of isn’t really a particular credit, though. It’s the moments when a room full of strangers stops feeling like a room full of strangers. People laugh together, sing something that didn’t exist five minutes earlier and become part of a memory that can’t be recreated anywhere else.
I think that is what sets Hudsy apart. The looping is impressive, the songs matter deeply to me and the humor keeps everything human—but connection is the actual show.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I think the main thing I’d like people to know is that optimism isn’t the same as pretending everything is fine. Life can be incredibly difficult, weird and completely outside our control. I just don’t want the difficult parts to get the final word.
That idea is at the heart of my next EP, *Together, We’re Relentless*. It’s about struggle, connection, fatherhood, relationships and the moments that help us keep going. I’m also a new dad, so I’m currently learning a lot about love, purpose and how little sleep a human being can technically survive on.
If you come to a Hudsy show, I hope you leave feeling lighter and a little more connected to the people around you. You may also leave with a song written about you, so share personal information responsibly.
You can find my music, upcoming shows and everything else at [www.hudsymusic.com](http://www.hudsymusic.com). Come say hello. There’s a very real chance you’ll end up becoming part of the show.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hudsymusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hudsymusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hudsymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hudsymusicjoy
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hudsy
- Other: http://tiktok.com/@hudsymusic
