Bud Rokesky is a singer-songwriter from Brisbane who released his first album, Outsider, in 2023, and if you’re a fan of that album you’ve probably never stopped listening to it, because there’s such richness in it. Then he embarked on a project in 2024 to release two singles a month, and released an album’s worth of material. Now he has a new album, Dusk, with all-new songs – none of them from the 2024 project – and he has given us another LP to fall in love with.
In between those releases he’s been touring, both his own shows and playing supports for other artists. Rokesky on stage is light in his banter and commanding in his performance. And what really stops everyone in their tracks, on the recordings and in the performances, is his voice and this sense that it comes from the deepest well, but that the well isn’t a place of darkness so much as understanding of the vagaries of being human.
This is not music that you can put on in the background and expect to not be drawn into. That’s because Bud Rokesky is here to break your heart and hold a mirror up to your foibles, and challenge you to go with him as he charts the human experience. That’s an artist who rewards close listening, repeated listening, attention, and a willingness to go with him on the road to …
Well, where is that road going to? From my perspective it’s a road to meaning, in a spiritual sense. Rokesky is an artist who inspires that sort of response. If you listen to this album – really listen – you’ll find him on that road and you’ll discover that he’s made it easy for you to go with him. That voice and all it embodies will carry you along. You can find this in just one song, too. If you listen.
So he’s not background music. He’s foreground and will always be. An artist striving for excellence and finding it. If you want music that you don’t have to pay attention to, there’s plenty of that. Bud Rokesky is not making it. He’s making music for people who really love music, who are seekers in many senses of that word; people who love language and the subtleties of the singing voice and who want to be moved by art. It’s a calling; a vocation. We’re lucky that he’s sharing it with us, and I was lucky to have the chance to talk to him about it in this new interview.
Dusk is out now through Warner Music Australia
Listen to Dusk on Apple Music
Listen to Dusk on Spotify
Bud Rokesky on YouTube
BUD ROKESKY AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Tickets are on sale now HERE
Friday 1 May - Bootleggers, Sydney NSW *
Saturday 2 May - Meatstock Fest, Sydney NSW
Sunday 3 May - Full Throttle Ranch, Buttai Valley NSW
Friday 8 May - Shotkickers, Melbourne VIC ^
Saturday 9 May - Shiraz Republic, Cornella VIC
Sunday 10 May - Royal Mail Hotel, Birregurra VIC
Friday 22 May - Junk Bar, Brisbane QLD #
* with supports from Lady Lyon & CJ Stranger
^ with supports from Rupert Bullard & Bad Traffic
# with supports from Hayley Marsten & Jarith Hughes