Richard William Stafford Hudson (born 9 May 1948) is an English musician who played drums and sitar for the
Strawbs. He later joined forces with bassist
John Ford to form a duo,
Hudson Ford, in which he played guitar and sang.
Career
Richard Hudson was a member of
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera,[1] in which he played drums and sitar and sang. In 1970, he and band-mate
John Ford joined
Strawbs. Hudson and Ford began to co-write material which appeared to be aiming in a slightly different direction to the compositions of Strawbs' main writer,
Dave Cousins. In 1973 after a 52-date tour to promote the album
Bursting at the Seams, there were acrimonious exchanges (which both parties now regret). Hudson and Ford left to form
Hudson Ford. Hudson at this point switched from playing drums to guitar and sang more lead vocals.
The
punk era sounded the death knell of many
progressive rock acts, including Hudson Ford. Hudson, Ford and Terry Cassidy founded the mock punk group
The Monks and, more strangely, High Society, which performed a pastiche of 1930s music.
In recent years he has played live gigs with Strawbs and continues to play with The Good Old Boys, alongside original Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper. In July 2009, The Good Old Boys released the CD Live at the Deep Purple Convention.
Discography
This is a list of recordings on which Hudson appears as a full-time band member.