Dudley S. Taft
(born July 4, 1966, Washington, D.C.) is an American musician. Taft is a
blues/rock musician that fronts the Dudley Taft Band and was a
songwriting member of Seattle band Sweet Water and member and chief
songwriter of Seattle, Washington-based rock band Second Coming.
Sweet Water, founded in 1990, released its first Record Sweet Water in
1993. The album was produced by Don Gilmore and mixed by Tim Palmer. The
band toured behind the album opening up for Winger, Candlebox and Alice
in Chains. The accompanying music video for the Head Down single was
played on MTV’s 120 Minutes and was added to regular rotation on M2. The
band’s music has been used on television in episodes of MTV’s “Daria”,
“Amongst Friends” and “Road Rules”, among others. A second record was
recorded in 1995, produced and mixed by Dave Jerden. Taft left the band
during the 1995 sessions. Sweet Water was dropped later that year by
record label East West/Elektra.
In 1995 Taft joined Travis Bracht, Johnny Bacolas and James Bergstrom to
form Second Coming. Starting out as a cover band called “FTA”, they
wrote songs throughout 1996 and played them live at their gigs. By 1997,
they started playing the Seattle area under the name Second Coming.
Later that year, the band signed a six record deal with Gary Gersch,
then the president of Capitol Records. Their self-titled release
resulted in two Rock Radio hits that both went to #16 and #11 on the
Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts in 1997 and 1998. In 1998 and 1999 the
band toured with VAST, Fuel, Candlebox and Monster Magnet.
After leaving Second Coming in the early 2000s, Taft formed the band
Omnivoid with singer Patrick Napper, bassist Robot, and drummer Andy
Gregg. They released two studio EPs titled Combustion and Ignition
respectively in 2005 and 2006 before moving on to other projects.
Taft started a blues/rock band in 2007 under his own name, with Scott
Vogel on drums and Evan Sheeley on Bass. Their first CD, entitled "Left
For Dead" was released in March 2010, with a mixture of originals and
traditional blues covers. The album was given five stars by John
Vermilyea of Blues Underground Network. In 2011, Taft signed a two
record deal with the German-based label M.i.G. "Left For Dead" was
released world-wide release on August 26, 2011, with the addition of a
bonus track "When The Levee Breaks". Dudley Taft toured the Netherlands
in January 2012. Reviews from bluesmagazine.nl, Keysandchords and more
all rated ***** 5 stars for the "Left for Dead" CD. Taft then hired John
Kessler to play bass and Chris Leighton to play drums for the next CD
and live shows in Seattle and Europe. A DVD was released on March 5,
2012 called "Dudley Taft live at Highway 99," performed August 6, 2011
in Seattle, Washington. On May 7, 2013, Taft released Deep Deep Blue,
his second blues rock studio album on his own label, America Blues
Artist Group, and in Europe on M.i.G. Deep Deep Blue won the Best USA
Blues Rock Album on the Underground Blues Network. Taft made three HD
videos for Deep Deep Blue, "The Waiting" directed by Alex Hoelscher,
starring Alyssa Lynn James; "God Forbid" directed by Matthew Kreig, and
"Meet Me In The Morning" by Matt Minnotte and David Molinatto. Screaming
In The Wind, produced by Tom Hambridge, was released in March 2014. The
band toured the US and the EU May through September, playing the
Netherlands, Germany and Poland with John Kessler on Bass, Carl Martin
on drums and Eric Robert on Keyboards. Taft made three HD videos for
Screaming In The Wind, "Screaming in The Wind," "Hard Time Killing Floor
Blues," and "Sleeping In The Sunlight" all directed by Alex Hoelscher.
The album made the top 10 Blues Rock albums of 2014 on the Blues
Underground Network, and the song "Red Line" was the #1 single on the
Hit Tracks Top 100. In February 2015, Taft went to Nashville to record
keyboard overdubs on the upcoming album "Skin and Bones" with legendary
keyboardist Reese Wynans of Stevie Ray Vaughan fame. The band is
scheduled to start a tour of Europe in April, and the new album is
slated for release in August 2015.