My latest work . . .

In 2023 Jude started writing a new novel based around the life and times of a character called Elijah Grace. The year proved to be a difficult one with many distractions and disruptions, such as buy and selling a house; a move from the south to the north of England; death of his mother; and finally, retirement from working in the NHS. All of this had a negative knock-on effect on the writing. Unhappy with the results, Jude decided to shelve the project. In January 2024 Jude started writing again, only this time, short stories. Salvaging and reworking three chapters from the aborted novel and adding another 21 stories, by June 2024 Jude had enough material for a new book. Small Cruelties explores a gamut of themes and emotions and the stories come together to chronicle the human experience and remind us of the uncertainty, fragility, joys anbd tribulations that make up our lives.
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In January 2022 Jude began work on his third novel, inspired initially, by a thought about the lengths someone would go to seek revenge and secondly by observing a man sitting in an exclusive aprtment window at a rather ornate desk writing on a laptop. Jude decided the man was likely a novelist which immediately set into motion the central character of A WRITER'S PREROGATIVE - Carson Crowe, a famous narcissistic novelist. The book was published in August 2023 and includes excerpts from some of Crowe's own novels which include: two astronauts on a daring space mission; a duplicitous medieval abbot; Satan overseeing her debauched underworld; and a poetry-loving murderer on a prison break. 

In January 2021 Jude began work on his second novel which was based on a 2008 album titled, Circo de Teatro. The album had garnered critical praise around the world and its fascinating circus theme, which included lots of weird and wonderful misfit characters, just lent itself to a more full-blown story. The finished book follows many of those original character’s lives and really tries to encapsulate the community and family that a life in the circus can provide. 

In January 2019 Jude began to work on adapting his allegorical stage musical - Cybersoul, into a metaphysical speculative fiction novel. Set in a post-pandemic future, Cybersoul follows the interracial love story of Silas and Isabella set amidst a new world order that brings a class struggle, social unrest, and injustice. In such a world, can true love hope to survive? Watching over these proceedings are a trio of guardian angels - the Soul Sisters, who remind the reader that everything and everyone is connected through the universal energy of love. 
 
‘Without love, you ain’t nothing but a Cybersoul’
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Originally written as an allegorical stage musical, Cybersoul was born out of the U.S. black civil rights movement and soul music of the 1960’s. Here, the songs inform each chapter and add a lyrical poetry to the story. 

In these days of single song downloads and shuffling iPod playlists being the way of the world what’s an artist doing releasing a classic concept album - something designed to be listened to as a whole entity, from beginning to end, and not necessarily in bite-size pieces? Well that’s exactly what Jude Davison did in 2009 when he released
Circo de Teatro – the story of a Mexican circus and its colorful characters. The album’s songs, production, and theme, garnered unanimous praise from critics around the world. Americana UK called it “a bold musical statement by an honest, progressive musician not afraid to venture off the beaten path in search of a creative muse”, while All Access Magazine in Los Angeles wrote that "Circo de Teatro is a spectacle of sound . . . think Fellini meets Estrella de Jalisco de Ernnesto Molina after they had coffee at the Country Music Hall of Fame". 2010 saw Jude and his ten-piece band in full costumes and make-up bring the album – in its entirety – to the concert stage, highlights of which can be seen on youtube. So how do you follow up a classic concept album? With a classic double album of course!? Fast forward to 2011 as Jude released his nineteenth album, Outskirts Of Eden - a sprawling two disc set of 27 new songs and a stunning 28 page booklet that features the artwork of Arizonan photographer and digital artist, Eric Vondy. 

In writing the follow-up album Jude’s initial goal was simply to follow the same musical trajectory as “Circo” – borrowing from an eclectic mix of styles and genres, but utilizing similar sounds and instrumentation, but in 2010 Jude reunited with an old musical accomplice and began writing songs for a proposed side project – an album of duets. While the duets album never materialized Jude now found himself with more songs than could be contained on a single CD. Realizing that his next album could be a double he decided to completely embrace that idea and open the musical doors wide open. “I figured that this might be my one and only chance to record my own ‘White Album’ and who doesn’t want to do that” laughs Jude. Another burst of writing provided even more diversity to the mix and enough songs to make this a truly double album listening experience. The finished product crisscrosses musical genres combining Americana, country, rock, Dixieland, Jazz, blues, and folk into a truly eclectic mix. Again, the finished album was performed live with Jude’s crack 10 piece band and garnered more praise from reviewers in Europe and the UK.

With a freshly inked European distribution deal in place with Proper Records, in late 2011, Jude and his wife moved to England to live. Settling in Winchester it wasn’t long before Jude was once again writing songs for his next album, a collaboration with old friend, poet Blake Parker. “I met Blake in 1998 and we immediately hit it off and began creatively collaborating together”. The two created several screenplays, multimedia shows, films and videos, websites, and a trilogy of poetry/music albums (see Drop Dead Scene & Slow Resurrection tabs on this site). “We drank lots of wine, laughed loudly, pushed each other forward and best of all, became close friends” reminisces Jude. Blake died of cancer in 2007. In 2011 his partner, Monica, published a book of his song poems - Laughter At My Window. Jude left Canada with a copy in his hands and in the spring of 2012 picked it up and began setting music to Blake’s words. The result is
Head Bone Gumbo - a mix that Jude calls ‘countrybilly blues’. A real musical stew of styles, words, and ideas. “This is the most bluesy I’ve ever gotten on record, but there is quite a nice cross with country songs and some rockabilly too” says Jude. “After the intensity of the last two albums it was refreshing for me to sit down with someone else’s words and just simply have some musical fun. I think this is reflected in the simplicity and upbeat nature of this album. Basically the styles were dictated by Blake’s words and images – Blake loved the blues, old country, and back-porch type music, so I think he’d approve of our collaboration on this album” continues Jude. For this album’s artwork Jude used photos of street art he had taken while visiting Brussels in April 2012. “There was some fantastic graffiti we stumbled upon in Belgium, really cool stuff, I literally just snapped it with my little camera, and when I came to put the graphics together it just worked perfectly. Strangely enough there were quite a few images of heads in the paintings – which really worked nicely with the ‘Head Bone’ vibe of the title – which is a piece of lyric from a song called ‘Ghetto Head’. The ‘gumbo’ was added to infer the idea that this album is a spicy mix of styles and vibes if you like”. The album was released in September 2012.

In 2016 Jude's first book of short stories was published. titled 'Cripples and Creeps' it collects together some of Jude's most entertaining prose into a collection is available through Amazon as traditional print and kindle versions, and through lulu.com

In 2018 Jude's musical memoir - Uncertain Heaven - was published on Amazon and Lulu.com. A story of God, Creativity, and Music, and much more. After years of following the muse wherever she leads, an existential crisis leads the author to peel back the mysteries of life itself, follow what surely seems meant to be, only to find himself standing on the precipice at his own potential demise.

From the beginning . . .

Born in the northeast port of Hartlepool England, Jude grew up with a somewhat nomadic family life moving between England, Australia, and Canada until finally settling in Canada in 1975. While recovering from a bicycle accident, and inspired by the music of 10cc, The Kinks and Kiss, he taught himself to play the guitar and immediately began penning his own songs. His first band, The Vandals, formed from a high school Beatles look-alike contest, drew inspiration from the new wave sounds of the day: The Clash, The Police, and Elvis Costello. After graduating from high school, Jude enrolled in the Music Industry Arts Program at Fanshawe College in 1981, to study recording engineering. Here he co-founded his second band, The Wogs, wrote and recorded multiples of original songs, and won the college’s Best Composition Award both years running.  The songs he wrote and recorded during these two years would later comprise his first two CDs – Brand New Shirt & Tie, and Picture Perfect.

After college Jude moved to Toronto and formed his third band, The Sensations, which performed in the Toronto area playing a repertoire of Jude original songs augmented with classic Motown tunes. In 1984 the band were finalists on Toronto radio station Q-107’s homegrown contest, landing Jude’s song, Picture Perfect, on Q-107’s 1984 album. After The Sensations broke up, Jude moved to London England to experience the musical landscape of the UK and play gigs while shopping demo tapes to UK labels. Upon returning to Canada a year later Jude began playing his first solo gigs and unknowingly began his own independent musical career by recording and releasing three cassettes: Long & Sharp (1985), Pigeon Moods (1986), and The Greatest Escape (1987).

In 1990, and with a newly inked publishing deal for two songs and interest from a major record label, Jude relocated to Canada’s west coast and signed with Vancouver management company New Hayden Music. Jude’s first fully-realized, big-budget album, Back to the Wonderful, was completed in 1991 and found a release in both the USA (Caliber Records) and Germany (Eurostar). The album’s first single, Lifeline, reached #25 on the Gavin Report AC radio charts (USA), while other songs were used in movies and soundtracks alongside Elton John and Dan Hill. Two of the album’s tracks were licensed to the world’s most syndicated TV show, Baywatch and the song, It’s a Mystery was covered and released in Asia by film star Veronica Yip. Jude’s follow-up album, Strange Fruit, featured a slightly rockier sound and was released in Canada on TomCat Records. Two songs from this album were licensed to the American and Canadian TV shows, The Hoop Life and Higher Ground.

Inspired by a business trip to Hollywood and the sights and sounds of the LA music scene, Jude began writing songs for an imaginary rock band he called Fetish. The project soon began to take on a life of its own; characters emerged, a story line was hatched, and the project began to emerge in the shape of a movie script. Jude drafted a synopsis and wrote and recorded an accompanying edgy soundtrack album called, Neurotic Erotica, reminiscent of early David Bowie and Iggy Pop records. Jude then collaborated on a screenplay version of the project with poet, Blake Parker. The finished script, Drop Dead Scene, is the story about the rise and fall of a group of rock ‘n roll misfits, set against a satirical backdrop of music industry hype and was Jude’s first foray into dramatic writing and composing music ‘in character’. 

Jude then began work on his next character-driven project – a screenplay titled Slow Resurrection: the Life and Times of Leland Frank. Set in the post-plague future, Slow Resurrection follows the life of cowboy troubadour, Leland Frank and features the ‘soundtrack’ album, God’s Big Radio - a collection of original, traditional-sounding country songs penned by Jude. The story was, again, co-written with Blake Parker and with the help of some grant money eventually evolved and toured as a multi-media theatrical production, featuring poetry, video, and live music. Later the song, In Time We All Must Die, from the soundtrack album was licensed to the TV show, Cold Squad.

Jude briefly returned to school in 2000 to complete a Bachelor of General Studies degree with concentrations in Music and English. Inspired by courses in Shakespeare, modern theatre and creative writing, Jude began to think about writing a piece for theatre. A conversation about cyborgs and clones spawned the idea for his next project: a Broadway-style musical called Cybersoul. With an out-pouring of creative inspiration, within four months Jude had written and demoed eighteen songs and polished a script. The result is undoubtedly Jude’s most ambitious project to date: an original piece of contemporary musical theatre that combines classic-sounding soul music, cyborgs, and Shakespearean themes, into a story of love, betrayal, murder, revolution, forgiveness and ultimately redemption. Many talented singers helped bring the music to life including exceptional performances by Hayley, Cheryl Hodge and Laura Landsberg.

Shortly after completing Cybersoul, Jude received a call from singer, Rain Shields, to produce a song she had written for a spiritual healer from India. This led to a new musical partnership that resulted in the album, Angels in the Slipstream. With Jude providing the music and production and Rain the lyrics, the album became a collection of spiritual songs celebrating the unity of humanity and was released on Slipstream Records in July of 2005. 

In between writing and recording the ‘Angels’ album, Jude found time to once again work with long-time collaborator, Blake Parker, who was now, unfortunately, battling cancer. This time the pair’s collaboration was based around Blake’s rich back-catalogue of poetry, and resulted in three CDs of original spoken word and music. Titled, The Terminal City Trilogy, the CD collection was released in the fall of 2005 and enjoyed airplay and some notoriety on Canada’s CBC radio. Blake passed away in January, 2007.
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Throughout this period Jude also worked extensively as a music producer. These projects were often very diverse, ranging  from heavy metal, country music and a Tibetan prayer album, to a Doukabour choir CD, a Waldorf School CD, to a couple of Americana CDs by Seattle artist Eva Tree, as well as numerous singer/songwriters projects. Jude also continued to play a weekly house gig that featured a repertoire of acoustic original and cover songs. To augment these performances, Jude learned to play several new instruments: mandolin, baritone ukulele, and dobro. He recorded a trilogy of CDs: Uncertain Heaven (2002), Ordinary Dream (2006), and Bread & Bones (2008). These CDs perfectly captured Jude’s acoustic performances and combined eclectic cover versions of songs by the likes of Kate Bush, Elvis Costello, Prince, and Radiohead, along with Jude’s own original acoustic songs.

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