Trudy Lynn
2023 Blues Music Award nominee for Soul Blues Album and Soul Blues Female Artist
Trudy Lynn was born Lee Audrey Nelms in Houston’s Fifth Ward, where she began singing as a teenager. After high school, Lynn went to visit her aunt in Lufkin, where a club called the Cinderella needed a singer. She decided Lee Audrey Nelms wasn’t going to cut it as a stage name. The club had a bunch of cartoon character names painted on the wall and she noticed “Trudy,” which she quickly paired with Lynn. “Lynn was something in those days,” she says. “Gloria Lynne, Barbara Lynn. I thought, ‘I’m going to be one of those Lynns, too, baby.'” Prior to striking out on her own, Trudy was the vocalist for such Texas greats as I.J. Gosey and Clarence Green, where Trudy spent five years as the vocalist for his band. Green was a stern mentor, but Lynn credits him with helping her become a professional. “He molded me well,” she says. “He’s still in me because of what he taught me. It takes that.” After leaving Green’s band, Lynn began performing on her own. Since joining forces with harmonica wizard Steve Krase and the Connor Ray Music label in 2014, Lynn has played curator for herself. She has written her own songs that blend nicely with the vintage songs, mostly about good times and bad men. “Each one of these songs means something to me,” she says. “I truly understand something about each one of them.” I’ll Sing the Blues for You is Trudy Lynn’s 12th solo album and the third release on the Connor Ray Music label following up on 2014’s Royal Oaks Blues Café, which hit #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart and 2015’s Everything Comes with A Price which spent 4 months on the Living Blues Radio Chart. Trudy is also a five-time Blues Music Award nominee and was inducted into the Houston Music Hall of Fame in 2015. I’ll Sing The Blues For You peaked at #6 on the Billboard Blues charts. Her 2018 release Blues Keep Knockin’ was recently named one of the top 50 Blues recordings of 2018 by Living Blues magazine. In 2023, Trudy was nominated for Soul Blues Album and Soul Blues Female Artist Blues Music Awards.
