They did their first show as a family in March 1998 at Live at Leatherwood's Old Time Opry in Shelby, NC. They had just come to watch and possibly jam, but they made it on stage, and the Hudson Family Band was born.
The children learned to play a variety of instruments from their parents. Patrick, 27, recalls asking his mom to show him some chords on the guitar so he could surprise Daddy. Some have had formal lessons, but only because it's what they wanted.
"I'm not asking for experts, just for them to love music," Nancy said. "I figured if I forced them, they wouldn't like it."
"It's something we can do together," said Patrick. If they didn't have music in common, they'd all be off in their own directions, he reasoned.
"They're just as tight as any family you'd ever want to see," said Jerry Johnson, who has invited the Hudsons to play at the annual bluegrass event he organizes. "I've never heard any of them saying anything out of the way to the other."
And as a band? "They're a crowd pleaser anywhere they play," Johnson said. "They're as good as anyone around. They've got that good hard-driving bluegrass sound."
For the shows, the boys play both electric and acoustic instruments and the girls join in for some songs, though they can play instruments, too. Seth leads the vocals on most songs.
The first half of each show they play electric instruments - keyboard, electric guitar, rhythm guitar, electric bass and drums - and perform country and rock, the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Merle Hagard, Patsy Cline and John Denver.
Mid-show, the girls - Martha, Emily, Hattie, 9, and Katie - come up to sing some folk and traditional gospel songs to the tune of Grandma's auto harp.
"They've really added so much to our sound," Seth said. Sometimes I think they're going to take my job."
Katie was tapping her foot at three months, Grandma swears. And that's only because she saw it for herself.
"She doesn't want to be left out," Nancy said. "She sings her little heart out all the time."
The second part of the show, the boys pick up a banjo, mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric bass or bass fiddle to play traditional bluegrass, contemporary bluegrass and old-time music.
They do their own arrangements, and Seth has written a song or two, including "Mama's homemade Biscuits." "Makes Mama proud," Nancy said.
Nancy watches mostly, getting the occasional wink from her husband. As a child, she learned to play mandolin, guitar and fiddle, and she sang harmonies working in the cotton fields in Hickory Grove. She has been singing to her children since before they were born, she said.
Dad, who does mechanical and building maintenance for a local high school, also learned to play as a boy. His mother, Helen, learned to play instruments at an early age, too. Her granddaddy was a champion fiddler and her father and his siblings performed for local square dances.
She lives with the family part time, also staying with another son, since she broke her hip. She's in a wheelchair, but is still performing.
"It don't feel right without her," Nancy said. "She might not be able to get up and dance, but her feet are going."
At 83, Grandma said, "They kept me going."
At home,the family doesn't practice because so many of the chilren are older and doing their own thing. Seth is assistant manager at Lee's Nursery and just married; Patrick lives on his own and works at Fogel's Hardware and Caleb works at Woody's Music, often in the evening.
But the girls are known to break into harmonies at random times. Mom recalled the other day in the kitchen, one daughter was clearing the table, another one washing, and they were singing together.
But the family isn't always in perfect harmony.
"We fuss sometimes," Emily said. The two oldest girls, Mom recalled, would fight over the microphone when they were starting out. And Bill said any family fights lately are about getting together on time.
The family took some time off from performing during 2004, because their schedule became too busy. But, "we missed it terribly," Nancy said.
So the family has been right back at it, plus one. Seth's new wife Kimberly doesn't sing or perform. But she's pretty sure she'll have her own musical family one day.
