Hudson Palace is instrumentalist/music scribe Tony Fletcher (you may have come across his books on The Smiths, REM, The Clash) and vocalist/teacher Paula Lucas, based in the Hudson Valley of New York. They have been making music since 2020. Tony told Americana UK a bit about the group: “Paula and I met as a couple (online) shortly before Covid. Lockdown quickly led to playing music together, which led in turn to recording and releasing our re-arrangement of Buzzcocks’ power-pop-punk anthem ‘Love You More’ as a 3/4 folky ballad. After following that with baroque-styled interpretations of The Who’s ‘I’m A Boy’ and ‘Tattoo,’ which revealed new layers when sung by a female, our visit to the environmental protection areas of Costa Rica in 2023 inspired us to write ‘Holding Hands With Strangers.’ We recorded at my home studio together given that we now live together.”
The baroque-folk ‘Holding Hands With Strangers‘ also features Joe Magistro from Mercury Rev on percussion. And the striking sleeve image is a photo of “Nuevo Paradigma” by the Costa Rican sculptor Edgar Zúñiga.
