Jude Roberts
Music that makes you feel you’ve rediscovered a song you never knew
Jude Roberts thinks that the world may have gone insane. And he is determined to bring back humanity, one face at a time.
Roberts has a unique ability to convey emotion to an audience. Chatty crowds fall silent when Jude hits his first note. His songs are gems of folk craft: melody and dynamic chord changes are front and center, lyrics are insightful, and all of these aspects are brought to life by a voice that is strong, pure and clear.
Evocative and refreshingly melodic, Jude Roberts’ music makes you feel you’ve rediscovered a song you never knew. His record “Perfect Shell” showcases a diversity of songwriting styles and captures the connectivity of a live performance. Jude was selected to perform at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival 2018 as part of the Emerging Artist Showcase. In 2019, he collaborated with the SageArts project to create a song based on the life of Holocaust survivor Tommy Wald. This song, “Suzanne”, was one of four songs featured in the PBS documentary, We Remember: Songs of Survivors.
His sound is influenced by English, Irish and Appalachian folk music, with touches of baroque and Romantic-era classical pieces and European folk/pop. A unique amalgam of style and talent, Jude Roberts draws the listener inward and invites them to dive deep.
Roberts is a New York-born and raised singer, songwriter, and recording artist. He became involved in the local New York music scene after graduating from Purchase College (1997) where he majored in Studio Composition.
Roberts’s meshing of classic and contemporary is widely acclaimed. “A mellow, vintage sound…accented by his fine guitar work” is how California Songwriter Showcase organizer Randy Simer described Jude’s performance in a recent review. The hallmarks of Jude’s work -unforgettable melodies, brilliant lyrics, stunning vocals, and rock-solid guitar playing- combine to create a unique and exciting find for acoustic and folk listeners everywhere.
He fingerpicks with the delicacy, assurance and color of Nick Drake; sings with the bell-like clarity and gentle high end of a lost Finn brother; and writes Anglo- and pop-inflected folksongs with the offhand grace and deceptive sophistication of early James Taylor, Richard Thompson or Sir Paul himself. - John Burdick, Hudson Valley One