Most family trees are firmly rooted, built on eras of rings, binding each generation to the next. Some stand tall and strong, like oak. These trees have strong bloodlines – fierce and proud and rich. They boast the best stories and even better storytellers. They hold many secrets and carry their own unique emblem, emblazoned upon a torchbearer every new generation forward.
The year is 1973 - the last model year for "vintage" White Falcons. CSNY have reunited for the Human Highway tour. Shortly after the release of Randy Newman’s “Sail Awayâ€, Luke Doucet is born in Halifax, NS. They say a good writer writes what he knows. Some people spend years on the road collecting tales and trading licks enough to give their words weight and their music depth, but Luke need not look further than to his own family for inspiration and for all the notes to tell the tales. He is a master of stories because he knows all the good ones like the back of his hand. His palm is his family tree, and his fingers, spread wide as a web, are the means for his storytelling. The hand that holds the White Falcon. The hand that masterfully takes the instrument to emotionally uncharted waters. The hand that all the passing eyes fix their gaze upon, note for note, lick for lick, pick by pick. Nothing gets past this hand. Between pen and paper, nylon or steel strings, it will be written, remembered, repeated. And it will sound better than anything you’ve ever heard. Born into his footsteps, while others take years to find their shoes - let alone grow into them enough to make a stand – here, planted firmly, is the champion storyteller: a man raised in many parts who proudly carries his family’s history, unique in itself, from one place to another, wears it on his breast as his armour, his emblazoned emblem. He’s better for it because it’s what he knows – it’s all he knows. It’s in his blood.
Produced by Luke himself, Blood’s Too Rich features his band, The White Falcon, starring Rich Levesque on bass, Melissa McClelland on guitar/vocals, and a star-studded cast of characters including Paul Brennan, John Dinsmore, Chris Brown, Todor Kobakov, Bryden Baird, Lindy, Steve O’Connor, Glenn Milchem, Bazil Donovan, Jim Cuddy, Chris Stringer, Neville Quinlan, Chang, and Luke’s daughter Chloe Doucet-Winkelman. Additional production was provided by Ian Blurton and Colin Cripps, and the album was mixed by David Travers-Smith and Andre Wahl. Artwork by Lyle Bell of Whitey Houston and Shout Out Out Out Out.
DISCOGRAPHY
Blood’s Too Rich is the seventh album from Juno-nominated Doucet, whose discography includes three
Veal albums, a live record, and three solo works. Luke also has a score of production credits under his
belt, including, among others, three NQ Arbuckle albums and two Melissa McClelland albums.
Blood’s Too Rich, 2008 • Broken (and other rogue states), 2005 • Outlaws [live + unreleased], 2004
The Embattled Hearts, 2003 (Veal) • Aloha Manitoba, 2001 • Tilt O’Whirl, 1999 (Veal) • Hot Loser, 1997 (Veal)
