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Drawing strong comparisons to Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler, Bud Buckley has come on to the indie acoustic rock scene by blending thoughtful fingerstyle acoustic guitar with thoughtful vignette-style lyrics.

His second CD, It’s About Time, was released in 2007 and brought more of the same musical stylings after his debut release, Feel My Love, in 2004. Overall, however, the 10-track CD has a more mature, refined tone. “Can’t Leave My Mind,” features intricate strings precisely mixed while Bud’s thoughtful lyrics depict an endearing relationship. In it, he sings, “You blow through my hair even when it’s still/I feel you in everything you’ve touched/You seep into me against my will.” His track “Underground” offers a true acoustic rock sound ala John Mellencamp with a humane message as he sings, “The air is getting filthy so we’ll call it nice and clean/The rivers run with mercury and the fish are turning mean.”

“To me songs more about the words and the vocal delivery. I’d like to think that my lyrics speak to our humanity, our wins and losses, our draws and each of those is equally valuable. I also strive not to use cliché’s either lyrically or vocally. Damn hard to do in this day and age and still be at all intelligible.”

It’s About Time features appearances by a variety of noted musicians. Helen Avakian, a singer/songwriter who has opened for Mary Chapin Carpenter, Marshall Crenshaw and the New York Philharmonic, produced and contributed back-up vocals to the album. Other musicians who contributed to It’s About Time include Terry Champlin who played classical guitar. Scott Petito, who owns and operates NRS Studios in New York and whose recording credits include Rory Block, Mark Knopfler and Stevie Wonder, played bass, piano, B2 organ, acoustic and electric guitar. Deni Bonet, a Lilith Fair singer/songwriter/musician who has recorded and/or performed with REM, Sarah McLachlan and Cyndi Lauper, added violin, viola and electric violin. Beth Reineke served as a vocal coach and production assistant.

Hailing from Venice, Florida, Bud has also lived in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Bud spent most of his adult life in the Woodstock, New York, region. A self-taught guitarist, he started teaching as well. It was then he met his mentor Helen Avakian, a resident Flamenco guitarist at Bard College and multi-talented singer/songwriter, who educated him in fingerstyle guitar. She was a driving force in challenging him to write and worked with Bud’s wife to connect him with voice instructor Leslie Ritter.

“Helen set me loose and my musician friend Davis Turner on Amelia Island, Florida, coaxed me to perform. I started doing open mic and bars and coffee houses and started getting steady gigs and eventually had enough material to record two CDs.”

His college education in journalism lent him strength in the songwriting department, though Bud admits that he had help from others to create the tracks. Bud penned all of the songs on his album with some co-writing input from former student Kathy Feeney. James Braha, one of his guitar students, wrote “Meltdown” while he was teaching him.

“Writing is my first strength, certainly. But I love the process of striving to become better and better at writing music. The same is true of my performance skills. I like to think I get better all the time. I certainly work at it,” says Bud, who plays guitar and some harmonica.

Bud’s music has been featured on compilation CDs such as Moozikoo’s Best of Indies and Indie Music for Life. His song “Crowded Memory” has been placed in a public service advertisement in California for a drug rehabilitation facility.

For more on Bud, visit www.budbuckley.com. You can stream his music at sonicbids.com/budbuckley