Gary Douglas Band release new album 

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If you weren’t already convinced of his greatness with Keepin’ Faith, this October the Gary Douglas Band is giving you eleven more reasons to give it up to mister Douglas himself in the form of Deep in the Water, the singer/songwriter’s most sterling compilation of material released to date. I won’t deny it; I was a little skeptical about Gary Douglas when I first gave his music a spin a couple of years ago, but in the time that has passed since Keepin’ Faith, Douglas has done a lot of growing up as a composer, and the music that he’s writing is finally on par with his incredibly imagistic lyrics. Deep in the Water is a well-rounded piece, and it just might be the LP to finally make him a household name.

The song “Nothing Ever Goes as Planned” has the opulence of a bittersweet folk ballad with all of the boldness and intensity of a grand rock n’ roll song, custom fit with stacked amplifiers that could bring down a decaying skyscraper when placed in close proximity and violently cranked to 10. I actually don’t know why this band gets pegged for a country act so often, if anything they’ve got a lot of southern rock in their sound, but this is an old school American rock band through in through. The fact that their music has a heartland twang to it is enough for country fans to find it appealing, but Gary Douglas is far too sophisticated a writer for the irrelevant Nashville scene to entice.

“Wild Child” is another highlight from Deep in the Water that I think sold me on the charms of Gary Douglas and his band of troubadours. First off it shows Douglas’ mad skills as a bluesman, which might be his strongest suit as an artist but has never really had the opportunity to be showcased like it is here. Saturated in groove and swagger, “Wild Child” levels the boom and leaves the listener no choice but to take a pause from the album and properly absorb the sonic whirlwind that they were just sitting front row for. I’m impressed; I almost never change my opinions of an artist, but I think this kind of marked improvement warrants a lot of praise.

In a lot of ways Gary Douglas is like a progressive rocker, a Roger Waters type even, dressed as a cowboy kicking out fierce southern jams. In other ways, he’s an enigma to both the critics and himself, still finding his sound buried beneath his own thoughts and measured efforts to make something truly meaningful and connective with the audience. I think he’s made leaps and bounds towards becoming the singer/songwriter that I now know for certain he can be, and if he continues to let his rough edges loose and avoid softening any element of his sound he’s going to be in possession of one of the sexiest and most alluring styles of roots rock in the country – and quite possibly the world.

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Mindy McCall