Little Legend: “Bailout” [Premiere]

Restless about life direction and dissatisfied with the wages of his boyish ambitions, Brandy Tudor stepped out from the mobile homes and seedy nightclubs of Bozeman, Montana and drove east. Little did he know this decision would help him solidify his current creative role — singer and songwriter for Little Legend, a rock ‘n’ roll band with a rapidly growing fan base across the Midwest.

When Tudor arrived in Wisconsin, he settled down in Madison and signed on with an interdenominational missions organization. It was there that he fell in love with poetry and fiction, particularly the work of Flannery O’Connor. His newfound faith, passion for writing, and an ever-present admiration for music soon became his lifeblood.

“So I got a regular job and started writing songs,” he says. Tudor and fellow guitarist friend Joseph Copeland decided to “make a real go of things” after a train trip out to Montana. “We drank whiskey and talked about music while America’s backyards flew by,” says Tudor. “At the end of the trip we looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s start a band.'” 

That was the beginning of Little Legend. After adding drummer Robby Schiller and bassist Daniel Jin to create a rock-solid rhythm section, they started working on Tudor’s songs. Like Springsteen and Dylan and other great songwriters, Tudor’s characters are often damaged and complex, doing the best they can with their circumstances, rising above their flaws and patterns to find meaning (and even joy) in their lives. In his song “Lonely,” Tudor doesn’t dwell on the lack of perfection, or not having enough, but offers up an acceptance of life and making it work:

“I ain’t exactly what you’ve been dreaming of
And you ain’t as pretty as you once was
But the magic don’t just belong to the young
And two hearts are still better than one.”

Tudor likes to write about characters in conflict and how they resolve their challenges. “Unless I feel like a song has a dramatic element to it,” he says, “something that pulls at the heart string and tells us of the complexity of human existence, it just feels like noise to me.” Little Legend’s reach is expanding as they tour the Midwest and venture out further every chance they get. Their latest EP, and dirtiest, No Way to Tell, is set for release July 2 on The Record Machine, bringing with it all the embedded grit and garage-rock small town America has to offer.

Gleaning mostly from the stories of his father’s generation, the record in its entirety paints a picture of the lowly dirtbag. It sings his praises and pities his condition. Still, Tudor does not exclude his own likeness in the portrait. The lead single, “Bailout,” is even based on a time Tudor was bailed out of jail in Laramie, WY by a girlfriend, though he might have embellished it a little bit.