A lifelong music collector, Scott Hudson brings his years of expertise as he babbles about indie, garage, punk, Americana, and other forms of rock /'n/' roll.
Reading the feed…
1996 was a great year for me. I had a comfortable day job, I still worked a couple of nights a week at the record stores, and I was the music editor for a local newspaper. This was quite possibly the peak year for live music in my city. Local bands were selling out clubs and releasing great albums, and more national acts were hitting town than ever before. Besides the local upswing, it was a great year for new music. Americana was on the rise, with lauded albums by the likes of Wilco, Golden Smog, Steve Earle, and others. Songwriters such as Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Vic Chesnutt, and other
I ended last week’s new release episode with a good dozen or so songs I did not find time to air. How could I handle that? That’s not enough new tunes for a third show of new tunes? Should I just keep them in storage for the September series? But then I remembered that today (8/21/26) was a momentous day for rock and roll. It’s the day that Gravest Graves by The Cramps was coming out. For those living under a rock, here’s the short story. After Lux Interior died in 2009, his partner Poison Ivy became a complete recluse. Reportedly, she didn’t even open the mail containing the royalties from th
I may call the artists in my first part of the monthly new release series “friends of the show” but this month’s second part heavily features two of my longest serving buddies of my years broadcasting The Ledge. First off, I have the privilege of debuting around half of the brand new album by Jeremy Porter and The Tucos, Sell Their Souls. Set to come out next week (August 21), this may be Porter’s masterpiece, and he was gracious enough to record commentary tracks for the tracks I picked to play. I must thank Porter for his longtime support of the show, and for going the extra mile in And then
Last month may have been a little shy of new music, but this month’s two-part new releases series may be the best ever. Tonight’s part one, as always, is pretty much a “friends of the show” episode as it’s filled with artists who regularly supply the show with new tunes. There’s not one but four new tracks by Vista Blue, and new tracks from Numb Surprise, The Rockerati, The New Brutarians, The Dear Boys, Phil Cook, and the ChrisVandalay Project. There’s another cool split covers single by Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, this time with The James Clark Institute on the b-side. Plus two great new r
One of my favorite occasional theme for this show is the “Hudson Compound” series, where I play nothing but tracks from records I’ve been listening to in my humble abode. It’s been awhile, so I figured it was the perfect time to do this again. The core of this week’s tracks comes from a little personal theme I’ve been following for the past week, where I have been playing almost nothing but great Minneapolis rock and roll that I’ve otherwise ignored in the last couple of years. There are great bands that should be much more recognized (Crash Street Kids, Loose Rails). There are original Twin/T
You guys all know my rules about the cover version episodes – once the folder is full it’s time for a show. This time around, it’s also perfect timing. As I was putting this week’s show together, I discovered that Trash Kickers had put out a live video of them covering “Can’t Hardly Wait” at their May album release show. Oh, yeah, I had to include that. Here’s why I love this band so much. Over the years, I’ve received dozens and dozens of press releases stating that this band or that album is reminiscent of The Replacements. They rarely are. In fact, many tracks on their debut record, Way Out
I wish I could say I have vivid memories of 1986, but I really don’t. Look, it was the year after I graduated from college, and life was a party. I was working in a record store during the day at night I was a club DJ. Quite often the club followed me to the home I shared with a couple of friends with similar lifestyles. I do remember the music, though, and tonight’s show celebrates the soundtrack of that glorious year. What surprised me as I was preparing this show, though, is that this was a year where roots rock dominated my life. Sure, there was plenty of traditional punk and alternative m
Before we get to a description of this week’s episode, I received a wonderful notification earlier this week that this show had hit #31 on MillionPodcast’s Best 100 Midwestern Music Podcast chart! Wow! This is quite an honor. If I’m going to be honest, I believe it’s these monthly new release episodes that have helped get this sort of attention. What other radio show features around four hours of new releases each and every month? Tonight’s show, like volume one last week, may be a little shorter from a typical episode but it’s jam packed with wonderful tunes. As usual, there’s a set devoted t
It’s that time of the month once again! It’s another set of new release episodes, and this one includes a lot of familiar faces. There are the usual submissions by the likes of Numb Surprise, Phil Cook & the Fall Dogs, Ricky Rochelle, and others, but there’s also some great covers from The Routes and the latest Drunk Dial Records’ Fake series. There’s also strong new stuff from Jon Spencer, The Jukeez, and The Paranoyds, along with a wonderful compilation of bands playing this month’s Punk Rock Raduno festival in Italy. But I’m especially happy to once again premiere some new local music. Off
With tonight’s show the final episode of June, it’s time to look back at the new music released over the past quarter year. These three months have been simply fantastic. There’s been followups to records that were at the top or near the top of previous year end lists (The Sleeveens, Memo PST, The Bevis Frond, etc.) There’s surprise albums by veteran bands (Eddy Current Suppression System, Natural Child). There’s the returns of longtime fave bands (Social Distortion, Oddfellows, High On Stress, etc.) And there’s plenty of brand new bands, including a kickass Chicago group, Trash Kickers, that
A little over two years ago, I put together a show based only on songs released on the ten inch EP format. I’m still wondering why there aren’t more ten inchers released these days. It’s the perfect format for the EP’s that waste way too much space on most twelve inch releases. Anyway, since that previous show, I’ve not only acquired a few more of these type of records, but I’ve expanded my knowledge of the format. For new titles, there’s the live Replacements EP that accompanied preorders of the box set reissue of Let It Be. There’s also a couple of Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs EPs, and a reissue b
The second part of the monthly new release series is generally dominated by the latest records Malibu Lou has put out on his legendary Rum Bar Records label. This month is no different, and it’s a perfect kick off to over two hours of great new tunes. The Hollywood Stars, The Amplifier Heads, Stop Calling Me Frank, Gene Champagne and Girl With a Hawk are this month’s Rum Bar representatives, and they’re all fabulous. There’s also a sampler of tunes from the lastest Dam-Nations compilation series. The rest of the show is a battle of sorts between veterans and noobs. On the veterans side, there’
I have long described the contents of the first episode of my monthly new release series as “friends of the show” Well, that is more true than usual this month. Yes, there are the usual suspects (Numb Surprise, Phil Cook & the Fall Dogs, etc.) but there is also the debut single from an upcoming album by my hometown friends Off Contact. “Heart and Mind” is the first look at Can You?, their third album, and you can expect to hear more off that album as the summer progresses. Besides those tracks, there is a set devoted to a cool concept record called Pets Sounds, an album of songs about…well, pe
In the days following last month’s Record Store Day extravaganza I spent hours digitizing a number of titles I purchased that day. I also went through my archives to grab tracks from the many reissues that came out. A couple of weeks later, I was all set to do a show based on this work. Unfortunately (for the show at least), I had a last minute family function to attend, so I had to set that folder aside for a future episode. Well, the future is now. In my eyes, it was a great Record Store Day as there were plenty of rarities that I was excited to add to my collection. And as I don’t go after
With this being a holiday weekend, I was determined to do a very listener-friendly “fun” episode. Of course, when I say listener-friendly, I’m not talking about the sort of nonsense on commercial radio. Not, what that means for The Ledge is the sort of legendary bands and songs that all Ledge listeners enjoy…or should. The actual theme came together this past Sunday when I was listening to the first Stiff Little Fingers album, Inflammable Material. It was at that moment that I decided that I was only going to listen to debut albums this week. That idea naturally transformed into a theme for to
The “covers” folder is full. Overfull, to be honest. So tonight’s show is a supersized show of great remakes, and many of them are quite surprising. The Tubs covering Metallica? Social Distortion doing Chris Isaak? White Fence remaking Simply Red? The Hollywood Stars retaking their own song back from Kiss? Hell, even Ty Segall’s version of The Doors could be considered a surprise. There are also quite a few more conventional remakes here tonight, but each and every one is what the kids today call a “banger”. (Oof, remind me to never use that term again.) I’m sure any Ledge listener will find a
On last week’s new release episode I highlighted an entire section to the new album by The Sleeveens. This week I do the same thing to my good friends High On Stress, but instead of adding my own description of how great they are I’m going to leave it to the legendary Twin/Tone Records founder Peter Jesperson – “With album #6 – Still Here – Minneapolis band High On Stress deliver their finest work yet. Full of tightly written, smart songs that stick in your head. It rocks like mad, sounds great, and when it’s over, I just want to play it again.” The High On Stress segment is just the tip of th
After a week off due to a family meal, The Ledge is back this week with the first part of the May new release series. And what a show to kick off the month. A good portion of the show consists of submissions from bands (Numb Surprise, Ricky Rochelle, etc.) and labels (Big Stir Records, I-94 Recordings, Spaghetty Town Records, etc.) that regularly support the show. Also included is a couple of great tunes from the ripping new album from Minneapolis’ Fret Rattles! But there are also a number of new records that I’ve been pumped to hear for quite some time. The second album by The Sleeveens prove
If you happen to follow me on social media (and why wouldn’t you?), you’ll have seen that every Saturday night I publish a “quilt” of records that I’ve listened to over the past week. Tonight’s show is an extension of that, minus the great number of new releases I routinely listen to during most of my listening time. Instead, this show features the older records that have hit the turntable (or my Plexamp account). There are classic albums by the usual suspects from the last 60 years. There are some relatively obscure groups I decided to hear. There’s also quite a few recent reissues that I’ve
Yes, it’s a typical second part of the monthly new release series. And by second part, I obviously mean it’s fantastic! There’s the usual set devoted to our friends at Rum Bar Records that includes brand new tunes from Ledge favorites High On Stress and The Peppermint Kicks. There’s a full set devoted to the latest monthly compilation from the fine folks behind the Dam-Nations series. There are two full sets devoted to female-led rock and roll, including one of my new favorite discoveries, Gladie! Plus, so many bands I love have new albums out. Power pop heroes Uni Boys, psych-rock veterans Th
For almost as long as I have split the new release series into a two part monthly feature I have labelled the first episode as a “friends of the show” broadcast. Unfortunately, we have lost one of our friends. Shortly before we hit air, I discovered that J. Waylon Miller, leader of Friends of Cesar Romero had passed away just a few days after the release of the 50th edition of his “Doomed Babe Series”. Each and every one of these releases were fantastic, and the last few were quite possibly the best of the series. He will be missed…and lovingly remembered. Besides tracks from J. Waylon, we hav
We are just days away from the end of March, which means we are (finally) a quarter of the way through 2026! To celebrate this fact, this week’s episode is a look back at the best albums released over the last three months. And it’s been quite a great quarter – fantastic record by new bands such as Twisted Teens (new to me, at least), The Rockerati, Mod Lang, and so many others. Fabulous returns by Uni Boys, King Tuff, The Darts, and South Dakota’s greatest current artist, Friends of Cesar Romero. There’s great covers albums by veteran acts such as The Damned, Pink Fairies, and Patt Todd & the
Around a month ago, I broadcast a show with the them of “guitars”. Songs with the word “guitar” in the title, or songs about guitars. I also asked for some assistance from social media on some tunes that I may have otherwise forgotten. That first show was very well received, and tonight we get part two. Because the original concept was inspired by Slim Dunlap’s classic “Loud Loud Loud Loud Guitars”, I thought it was only fitting to kick off this week’s show with the Young Fresh Fellows’ cover of that tune from the wonderful Songs For Slim tribute series. From there, this supersized show jumps
Here we go with the second part of this month’s new release series, and it’s a barnburner! Besides the usual Rum Bar Records showcase, there’s also a later set devoted to Dammit Records’ monthly Dam-Nations series. There are two full sets of ferocious female rock and roll, a ton of great submitted tunes, and all sorts of newly discovered garage rock. Oh yeah, and brand new music (as usual) from South Dakota legends Friends of Cesar Romero! What tracks are your faves? For more info, including setlists head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com
Part one of the monthly new release series has always informally been a “friends of the show” episode, and this month these friends came through with fantastic new tunes. Miss Georgia Peach returns with an anthem for all hockey fans, The Silent Treatment’s new single is a great rant against promoters who promise exposure instead of cash, and Geoff Palmer gives a musical shout out to one of his favorite bars (where he’s also appearing this weekend). There’s also great debuts by the usual suspects – Numb Surprise, Brad Marino, Jim Basnight, UltraBomb, Phil Cook & The Fall Dogs, wht.rbbt.obj, and
