Something different – but much more personal – from ol’ Cledus.
For over three decades now, Cledus T. Judd has been making us laugh with his parodies of songs from some of country music’s biggest artists, from his hit “I Love NASCAR,” a parody of Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar,” to his Joe Diffie parody “(She’s Got A Butt) Bigger Than the Beatles.”
Most recently, Cledus made headlines when he dropped “Meet Her,” a parody of Ella Langley’s “Be Her,” which Ella’s team then demanded he take down.
He followed that one up with his most recent release, “Just Another Day In Parodies,” a humorous look at the situation – and the cease and desists that come with being a parody artist.
But for his newest song, Cledus is switching things up and getting reflective about his journey to sobriety.
“Boy Goin’ Somewhere” is a reimagining of Ashley McBryde’s hit song “Girl Goin’ Nowhere,” written by McBryde along with Jeremy Bussey. In the original, Ashley reflects on finding success after being told she wouldn’t. But in his version, Cledus recalls the temptations that come with having success:
“All the way too drunks
The cocaine rants
All the wakin’ up and wonderin’
Just who the hell I am
I’d hate to think, where I might be
If it weren’t for the fans and the man upstairs
Got bad for a boy goin’ somewhere”
Cledus, whose real name is Barry Poole, has long been open about his struggle with drugs and alcohol at the height of his fame. As he once recalled:
“If anything it made me feel more entitled to do it. I got money. I can spend money on drugs. There’s never a drug problem if you can afford to buy them, and that was the problem.”
But it was the birth of his daughter that changed things for him, and today Cledus is 22 years sober and using his gifts to help others facing the same struggle.
I went to college at Marshall University in Huntington, WV, a small town that, like so many others, has been ravaged by drug addiction. While I was there, Cledus moved to a town nearby in Kentucky and joined the morning radio station in Huntington. And even after moving away I’ve seen firsthand just how much he’s done for the area, from speaking at the county’s Family Treatment Court to working with those in recovery centers to let them know that there’s hope after addiction.
And it’s that message of hope that Cledus brings to his new song:
“And I need to thank my family
‘Cause they always believed
And somehow they saw something in me I couldn’t see
All the dead end roads, Lord knows I took my share
‘Til I hit my knees one night and I said that prayer
And the man I was got changed right then and there
Got bad for a boy goin’ somewhere
Thank God I’m here and goin’ somewhere”
The emotional song features both Vince Gill and his daughter, Caitlyn Roberts, and Cledus says he hopes that it can provide a light at the end of the tunnel for anyone dealing with the same struggles he went through:
“I’ve never done a song in my career that’s more important and means more to me personally than ‘Boy Goin’ Somewhere.’ It is not only my story but many others who have struggled with addiction, almost lost it all but found a way to survive the madness, beat the illness and come back bigger and stronger and more focused than ever.
I will be forever indebted to my dear friends Ashley McBryde and Jeremy Bussey for helping write what I feel like is my life story. If I can save one person from the madness and the self-induced hell I went through, then the song and video will have served its purpose.
This is a song and video that matters and means so much to me. I pray it is seen and heard by the people who need it the most. Today I sit here 22 years free from addiction. If I can, you can, we all can…”
