Member Since: 9/17/2006
Band Website: dougthompsongs.com
Band Members: doug thompson-vocals,guitar...geoff cutts(occasionally)keyboards,vocals
Influences: Bob Dylan-duh!John Prine-midwestern & global at the same timeGuy Clark-the uncrowned king of texas(la freeway is my favorite song about moving)Loudon Wainwright III-best I ever heard at writing about himself-writewhatyouknow!Steve Earle-fearless as a writer and artist,a personal hero for sureNeil Young - how ironic is it that the best chronicler of the American Myth is from Canada-eh?...from Cortez to Pocahontas thru the Civil War, Nixon to welfare mothers to that plane crashing in a Pennsylvania field….Butch Hancock-romantic epics and biting populist humorTom Russell-so great at character sketches and stories of real peopleRobert Earl Keen-almost as funny as Prine,almost as personal as WainwrightGraham Parker-the first british guy on my list-nobody's better when pissed offPaul Kelly-the only aussie,great lyrics wed to perfect melodies,w or w/o his bandGreg Brown-started as a folkie,ended up as an important artist who pushes his bordersRandy Newman-so snide,so cynical,so funny-when he's not being vulnerableBruce Springsteen-still brilliant when not so damned domestically contentChuck Berry(with an honorable mention to Johnny Johnson,his pianist)Lennon/McCartney-aw you know-my sisters had all the albumsTownes Van Zandt-a lonely poet, too drunk and disaffected at the end to know how great an impact he had on other writers-pancho &lefty should've been filmed by sam peckinpahSteve Goodman-wrote compact little gems, he could breakyourheart or bustyourgutStan Rogers-nobody wrote better songs about the great lakes/CanadaShel Silverstein-when my daughter was about 3 she'd pick shel's book "The Giving Tree" for me to read cuz she thought it was so funny to watch me cry (and I always did)Woody Guthrie-my favorite all time New Yorker cartoon had a king high on a hill wearin a guitar singin, "this land is my land, this land is my land…" still cracks me up-w/o woody the top of this list would have a different nameWarren Zevon - always surprises me and makes me laugh or think or bothShane Macgowan - london - irish drunkard poet with an incredible mastery of the irish folk lyric and melodic traditions (hope he doesn't die)Tom Waits-san diego drunken poet with an incredible mastery of the beat vocabulary and the cool jazz melodic traditions (glad he didn't die)Jimmy Buffett - some people call him the John Denver of the florida keys - but especially his early work had a lot of sharply observed momentsKinky Friedman-before the mystery novels there was "they ain't makin jews like jesus anymore"and "ride 'em jewboy"-a great writerJerry Jeff Walker-pretty inconsistent but truly great on a handful of songs,"curly & lil" - "hill country rain", and of course "mr. bojangles"Dave Carter-I was at his 2nd to last gig w/tracy and was amazed at his songwriting, what a tragic loss, tho I feel lucky to have seen himKris Kristofferson-brought intelligence as a virtue to the Nashville mix and was the first country songwriter I paid attention toDave Alvin - I always loved the Blasters and his take on America is dead-on and his writing is full of cynicism and wit with a keen eye for detailSteve Forbert - the Mississippi kid turned New York folkie… has never made a bad album… turns a phrase and finds the right tune to go with itMark Germino-probably the least known name on this list...fiery,populist writing..left and right wingers are fair game...the man wants justice dammit,and his songs are sharply written and morally committed and catchy as hell-political songs need hooks too ya know also....mark gerlach,my first producer and the best damned disc jockey i ever paid to play my records(yeah,when i started they were actually vinyl...)thanks,buddy! .
Sounds Like: "...'American' music in the best sense of the word...doug is a clever,gracious,and engaging performer in the john prine/steve goodman vein"-bonni miller,ownr,chez marche cafe
Record Label: doug's records
Type of Label: Indie