Cliff Hudson

There is no need for Cliff Hudson to tell anyone he is living the dream. He wears it. It's in his wide smile, infectious laugh and easy-going demeanor.

Over the course of a 30-minute chat, the country music singer/songwriter is comfortable and relaxed as he talks about his musical career, what has brought him to this point in his life and what the future holds. In a world full of complainers, he's a man who appreciates his lot in life, and why shouldn't he?

He's been married for one year to Ashley, a woman whose name brings a smile to his face. He's recording songs for a debut album to be released sometime in January, blending his rustic country sound with straight-ahead Southern rock music. And he's playing gigs around Little Rock and as far as away as Maryland.

"That's what I love to do," said Hudson, 30. "I love playing and singing. I really love it. It's a really beautiful moment when you make that connection with the audience."

But considering where Hudson was just 18 months ago, it's even easier to understand his happiness.

Between March and October 2006, Hudson was a corporal in the Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, patrolling the streets of Ar Ramadi when the Iraqi city was a hotbed of terrorist activity. Ashley - his fiancee at the time - was nine time-zone hours away.

"I've always considered myself to be appreciative," Hudson said. "But after coming back from Iraq, there's a new level of appreciation. Just an appreciation of being here, of having air in my lungs."

Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., Hudson signed up for the Marines in February 2003, as war with Iraq became imminent. He had already graduated from the University of Tennessee, majoring in psychology. No immediate member of his family was in the armed services. Yet, it was something he needed to do, he said.

The first half of his four years of active duty were spent mainly in Spain and Africa ("I got to see the world," he said.), but in March 2006, the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment was deployed to Iraq and Ramadi, a city inside the Sunni Triangle where the number of insurgent attacks were extremely high.

How dangerous was Ramadi? A fellow Marine had a set of bagpipes, and the first time he played them, the commotion started a firefight between Marines and the insurgents. After hearing the story, Hudson's future father-in-law sent him a brand new Martin steel-string Backpacker guitar, and Hudson and his fellow Marines had an escape - however minor - from the hell raging around them.

"I just picked up the guitar and started playing," Hudson said. "I think that everyone needs an outlet and mine is music.

"Everyone has a gift and a service they can do. I feel as though [music] is mine."

While Hudson grew up in a musical household in Chattanooga - his mom was a DJ on a country radio station and his dad was a DJ on an AM rock 'n' roll station - Hudson didn't totally focus on music until he was a sophomore in college.

"I started writing, singing and playing music 'cause I got dumped," he said. "It was the most horrific thing that had ever happened to me at that point. Looking back, I'm glad that girl broke up with me."

While stationed in Ramadi, Hudson turned to writing songs about his life as a Marine and the experience of being in a war zone, half a world away from the people he loved. One of the songs to emerge from Ramadi was "Send My Love," a gentle acoustic ballad describing his yearning for Ashley.

"I wrote it for my wife when I was stationed in Ar Ramadi," he said. "It wasn't a pro- and anti-anything song. It was just me missing someone."

It wasn't until Hudson returned from Iraq that Ashley first heard the song and, even then, it wasn't right away. At the couple's wedding reception in November 2006, with Tragikly White as Hudson's backing band, Hudson performed the song for Ashley.

"Everyone was crying," Hudson said. "I knew it was either the greatest thing or the meanest thing to play, but she loved it."

The song also has helped out others who are dealing with loved ones in the military. Following a show at The Afterthought in September, Cliff and Ashley were approached by a young woman whose brother was shipping off to Iraq and needed reassurance about his safety. The couple offered what comfort they could.

The song also has furthered Hudson's musical career, as it is part of To The Fallen Records Presents Country: Volume I. The record label To The Fallen Records was founded in 2006 by Sean Gilfillan and Sidney DeMello as a military-only record label that lends active-duty servicemen, National Guardsmen, reservists and veterans a nonpartisan and unfiltered opportunity to showcase their talent. The compilation albums started as hip-hop CDs but have since branched into rock and country.

Hudson also is recording new songs at a studio in Conway, as he focuses on his music full time.

"I want the music to support myself and my family," Hudson said. "I think right now that is why I'm here, to use my music to help people, lift people up and give them what they need.

"The songs have kept coming. I guess it is my way of trying to get all the sand out of my blood. They are not really about the military or anything like that. They are really just about me having an appreciation for life."

The appreciation starts at home with Ashley, a love affair that began three years ago when the pair met in London. Ashley had just graduated from Vanderbilt University and was on an internship before entering the University of Arkansas School of Law (from which she has since graduated).

"We met - as every perfect romance begins - at a pub around the corner from Piccadilly Circus," Hudson said. "I was done in 15 minutes; I didn't stand a chance."

In the year Hudson has been back from Iraq, his life has settled down from where it was in the dusty streets of Ramadi, but Hudson also is careful to remember the men and women serving the country and is hopeful his songs help out a little along the way.

"I think my wife and I show that there are happy endings that come out of the war," Hudson said.

"Whether you are for [the war] or against it, you just need to remember that right now there is an empty spot at the kitchen table, an empty spot in someone's heart, an empty spot in someone's family, because there is a young person standing their post."