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Xavier Rudd
Biography
Like Jack Johnson, independent Australian musician Xavier Rudd combines a love of surfing with a love of roots music. Like Ben Harper, he plays Weissenborn lap steel guitars. Utterly unlike both of those musicians, however, he has a unique setup. Rudd is a one-man band who plays surrounded by instruments in a complicated array --- typically, he has three didgeridoos placed in front of him on a stand, a guitar on his lap, a stompbox by his habitually bare feet, and an assortment of drums, banjos, harmonicas, bells, and bass guitar near at hand, or near at foot as the case may be. He takes this setup with him on frequent tours (as well as his surfboards), relying on word of mouth rather than record labels to speak for him. His albums, several of them live recordings, are most often sold at these sold-out gigs.

Rudd first learned the circular breathing technique required to play the didgeridoo by practicing on a vacuum cleaner hose. While growing up in Torquay and Bell's Beach in Victoria he also learned guitar, clarinet, and saxophone. He seemed destined to be a musician, but could never focus on just the one instrument, preferring to find ways to combine them together, such as by playing basslines on his guitar while simultaneously finger-picking on the lower strings.
Selected Discography
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