Larry Dougher
Windsor, Vermont, United States
Music
Press
By Art Edelstein
December 29, 2006
It's time again to award the albums and musicians whose performances are the best of the best for Vermont music in 2006. We introduced the Tammies – Times Argus Grammies – last year and for this year there is a completely new list of winners.
Best Rock Album
The Larry Dougher Band, a power trio of guitar, bass and drums produced a blues CD, "Let Me Stay," that rocks. So adept is Dougher on guitar that the music he writes and sings could turn any local club into a Vermont version of a smoky Chicago Blues club (sans the smoke.) Dougher, who graduated from Windsor High School, along with bassist Mike Fralish and drummer Bobby Gagnier, are impressive in this set of guitar-driven songs. Dougher's is a name to watch in the George Thorogood and the Destroyers vein. - Times Argus
By Art Edelstein
September 1, 2006
Blues guitarist Larry Dougher, who has been burning up the strings since he was a teenager of 15, and his band visit the Black Door Bistro on Saturday. So adept is this guitarist that the music could turn Montpelier's popular downtown nightspot into a Vermont version of a smoky Chicago blues club (sans the smoke), on this, Dougher's second visit.
Dougher, who graduated from Windsor High School, along with bassist Mike Fralish and drummer Bobby Gagnier, are a blues power trio with a new CD "Let Me Stay" that highlights an impressive set of guitar driven songs.
Power trios of this kind are fairly uncommon. It's a lot of work for the guitarist who generally plays lead and usually handles most or all of the singing. That's a lot to ask of any musician but Dougher handles it well.
A successful blues or power trio requires very solid bass players and drummers to get it right. George Thorogood and the Destroyers were really good at playing blues in this set up. Probably the most famous trio is ZZ Top which played Texas blues. Currently Vermonter Seth Yacovone and his band are established players. And then there was the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the late 1960s, but Hendrix was a player beyond categorizing.
Dougher's playing on his first CD shows a guitarist/singer/songwriter with great promise and considerable maturity considering he comes from an area not known for producing blues musicians.
Dougher, who is just 24, is traveling in some heady company as he interprets his own version of the blues style popularized by Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Magic Sam and Otis Rush. Or, if this isn't familiar to you, think of the music of the Blues Brothers and you have the Chicago style. For a young Vermonter, who's probably never been west of Hoboken, to hone in on Chicago blues is quite a feat and he does it well.
With solid backing from his rhythm section, Dougher can rock with the best or, alternately, squeeze out the most mournful notes from his guitar. The 10-song CD contains a variety of songs from rockers to moaners. Dougher handles the vocals with precision and a solid singing voice. On a couple of songs I thought I heard BB King singing, Dougher has gotten the idiom down so well.
Dougher is something of a musical prodigy. He didn't start playing guitar until he was 15, after watching Michael J. Fox play guitar in the movie "Back to the Future." Dougher must have missed a lot of homework or sleep, because within a year he had earned a spot as a finalist in the 1996 D'Addario National Electric Blues Guitar Competition, one of five in a field of over 100 competitors.
Eschewing the music more common to teens, such as AC-DC or Motley Crue, Dougher built his repertoire and formed bands which opened for J. Geils in 2000, when he was just 18.
In the past six years, this mostly self-taught musician he has been playing the New Hampshire-Vermont-Massachusetts club circuit and also been a member of the house band at the Rynborn Restaurant and Blues Club in southwest New Hampshire. Tomorrow night the Windy City will be well represented musically at the Black Door Bistro as the Larry Dougher Band blows into town. - Times Argus
"Larry Dougher is in touch with all of the things that make the blues matter. He plays with passion, intensity, subtlety, and a twisted sense of humor, delivered with the fearlessness of a young Buddy Guy." - "Monster" Mike Welch
Discography
2006 - Let Me Stay
Photos
Bio
With passion and reckless abandonment, Larry's guitar playing and singing never fails to leave a crowd exhilarated and amazed. It is because of his live performances that Larry has gained a reputation among his fans, musicians, and critics as being a rising star on the blues horizon; often surprising them with his antics and interaction with the crowd. For the last few years, fans have been waiting for a studio album to match the intensity of the bands live shows. Now the wait is finally over.
The bands debut album “Let Me Stay” features everything fans would expect to hear from The Larry Dougher Band. What was not as expected from a first album was the depth of Larry’s songwriting talents, as he wrote all but one of the songs on “Let Me Stay”. The songs have a firm foothold in the blues while incorporating other genres as Larry pushes his raw emotion and talent past the limits of straight-ahead blues. Not satisfied to merely pay tribute to his heroes, Larry infuses Chicago blues with his own intensity and fearlessness.
Larry Dougher began playing guitar at the age of 15, although self-taught, he turned to such "teachers" as Buddy Guy, Albert King, Muddy Waters, BB King, Jimmie Vaughan, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and many others. You can hear all these influences every time Larry picks up a guitar. Larry didn’t have to wait long for recognition of his guitar expertise as he was selected to be in the top 5 of over 100 competitors in the 1996 D'Addario National Electric Blues Guitar Competition, after only playing guitar for a year! Four years later The Larry Dougher Band was opening for the J. Geils Band at the 2000 Laconia Bike Rally. Larry has shared the stage with such musicians as Duke Robillard, Luther “Guitar Jr.“ Johnson, Jeff Toler of the Allman Brothers, Monster Mike Welch, Sweet Roy Jones and Nobby Reed.
Backing up Larry on drums is veteran of the New England music scene Glenn Rogers. Glenn brings a certain authenticity that draws on his former work with blues heavyweights such as Darrell Nullisch and Luther Guitar Jr Johnson. Rounding out the trio on bass is Jeffrey Murphy who is a lifetime musician from the Keene, NH area. Jeff's energy, musicianship, and versatility provide the backbone that is so important to a top-notch blues trio.
The debut album from The Larry Dougher Band captures what fans have been waiting for – an original blues album with the energy and passion fans have come to expect from their live shows.
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