Heather Latter
District singer/songwriter Maverick Judson is making his mark in the music industry with a newly-released song—and a video and album release on the horizon.
The song “Thru the Night,” by artist George Acosta, features vocals by Judson and was available Monday on iTunes.
“I’m really excited about it,” enthused Judson, noting the song was produced by Dutch record label Black Hole Recordings.
He said working with the legendary Acosta came about through the Internet.
“Everything I do now is all a product of me just firing out hundreds of e-mails and making connections just through releasing videos, songs, sending out tweets, using social media,” explained Judson, saying he connected with Acosta through Facebook.
“He sent me a backing track to sing on,” he noted. “And so I was kind of tested a little bit because I was told to re-sing the whole thing about five times, in a whole bunch of different ways.
“Sing this part softer, sing this part with a little more heart.
“By the time the song was actually finished, and they re-mixed it into what they wanted, it wasn’t even what I sent to them in the first place, so it’s really unique what they’ve come up with,” he added.
“It’s actually kind of a similar thing that they did with Justin Beiber and his song with Skrillex,” said Judson.
“Basically he sang a ballad to a piano track and they took that, spliced it up, added some effects, and it’s a totally different song.”
He added “Thru The Night” is an upbeat progressive houser that will fill up the dance floor.
Judson said the collaboration began back in January so it’s been in the works for a while.
“The song has been complete for a really long time but when you are going through a bigger producing company, things take a little while,” he noted.
“They have other artists on the roster that they have to work with.”
Judson is hoping people will purchase the single on iTunes.
Meanwhile, Judson also has been working with another well-known artist—Canadian singer/songwriter Danny Fernandes.
He was in Toronto earlier this month to shoot the video for the song “Just Drive,” which features Fernandes.
While he shot a music video previously with a production crew in Thunder Bay, Judson said this was quite different.
“It was really a different experience for me for a number of reasons,” he remarked.
“Expenses, unfamiliar territory, a larger production crew, a bigger song, an agent, a contract, the list goes on.”
This also was the first time a stylist was involved.
“I tried on a couple different outfits, and we finally picked something that was more ‘me’ and something that was comfortable,” said Judson, adding some of the outfits he tried on were uncomfortable and made it tough for him to sing in.
Since the song is titled “Just Drive,” they did a lot of driving and stopping at different locations—some that were set up for specific shots.
Judson explained each location represented a different part of this wild, exciting night he and his love interest were having as portrayed in the song.
“The song’s theme is ‘be your chauffeur for the night,’ so I take this new love interest and drive around showing her another side of the world,” he noted.
And Judson said the whole shoot was a lot of fun to experience.
“The people that I was working with, too, were a little bit more into the music industry,” he said.
“The highlight of my entire trip was the people I got to meet while I was down there.
“The whole music industry is about networking and I felt like I just hit the jackpot while I was down there,” he added.
“It was awesome.”
Judson expects the “Just Drive” single and video will be released in a few weeks, followed by his new album.
“The whole music industry is based around the video nowadays,” he stressed, noting you don’t make money off the video but it’s an advertisement.
“The better you can make it look, and the more hype you can build around the video, the more singles or albums you are going to sell,” he reasoned.
“You just want to catch as many eyes as you can and hopefully generate enough interest for people to want to follow you on Twitter, join your mailing list, visit your website, whatever it is,” Judson added.
“We’re just going to try to build a fan base off of this one.”
Judson conceded it might take a few of these videos to grab hold of the market he’s after.
“I tried to throw a little bit of everything into the ‘Just Drive’ song so that people get a real feel for everything I can do, what I’m about,” he explained.
“It kind of has my style embedded in the song.
“So I’m hoping it will catch their ears, and the video catch their eyes, and it will be enough attention to make people care about the rest of the things I have going on,” he reasoned.
The release of Judson’s album, which he originally expected to do this past summer, was pushed back due to these other projects.
“Just Drive” will be one of the songs on the album and Judson wanted to release the video first as a way to push the album.
For updates on Judson’s music releases, subscribe to his mailing list by visiting www.maverickjudson.com
