Doug Duncan

William Douglas Duncan

Doug Duncan was born October 11, 1947, in Columbia, Mississippi. Columbia was then a small rural town located between Jackson, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. Doug spent his formative years there in Columbia.

Doug grew up with an appetite for various types of music. His first influences were from religious music including church and choir music. As he picked up the guitar he was attracted to gospel and folk music. Doug spent his time listening to and learning to play songs performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Kingston Trio, and other folk artists. All the time, he was getting more interested in country music with artists like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and Porter & Dolly. Of course, turning a teenager in 1960 if he wanted to be part of the local bands Doug needed to learn to play songs all the way from Elvis Presley to James Brown. Keep in mind you also had the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, CC Revival, Bob Dylan, and Percy Sledge. You name it; Doug listened to it and tried to play it. After his rock and roll band years, Doug began to turn back to folk and country influences. This pattern continued for a while until the outlaw country movement started and Doug’s interests turned to artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, and David Allen Coe. During this time he picked up on John Prine who probably became his greatest music influence.

Doug’s performing experience started in the First Baptist Church in Columbia at a very early age. Then around the age of 12 his life made a big change. Doug borrowed a box guitar from a neighbor and tried to learn to play. The old box was so hard to chord that he became discouraged. Then another neighbor had a Silvertone electric guitar for sale that was very easy to play. Doug could lay his fingers on the strings and make the chords with ease. He managed enough grass cutting money to buy it and his music career was on its way.

Doug played in gospel, folk, and rock and roll groups in high school. Then it was off to Pearl River Jr. College in Poplarville, Mississippi. At Pearl River, he and Jimmy Buffet met. They played together mostly around the dorm rooms. Doug and Jimmy both went on to USM in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They soon got together again with bigger dreams and ambitions than before. They still played the dorm rooms but before long they were playing the house parties and frat parties around campus. They also performed in lounges & restaurants from Hattiesburg to the Gulf Coast to Mobile and New Orleans. The music Doug and Jimmy performed was basically folk music with a little country. Later Jimmy started to throw in a few original tunes that really spiced up their program.

After the college days Doug drifted more toward country mostly because of his rhythm guitar ability and vocal quality. Doug was still not warmly accepted in the country venues because of his style and incorporation of the Southern Rock influence in his performances. Then came the outlaw country movement and Doug was tailor made for the program. Doug and Larry (Mud) Fortenberry joined Stan Ratliff and Dusty Polk at the VFW back in Columbia and the Stone Valley Band was formed.
For the next 3 years, Stone Valley was on the road in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama playing “county fairs, honky tonks, and bars”. As time went on Larry, Dusty, and Dusty’s brother Jerry began to introduce a few original songs into the mix. Doug became very interested in the original aspect of the music and tried his hand at writing with little success. With two small children at home and without an album to sell, Doug decided to come off the road and get a day job.

Doug continued his music career playing with local groups in the area. The main group he performed with during those days was Yeller Dawg. Some of the players in the group were Bob Bracey, Scott Pittman, Brad Pittman, Phil Howard, Rod McKenzie, Stan Ratliff, and Dusty Polk. His interest was shifting more and more toward the recording side and developing Dusty’s and Jerry’s original material. This interest took Doug further away from the band scene and more into front porch picking and recording. Doug and Dusty played and developed the original songs and after years of planning were just about to start the recording process. In September of 2007, Dusty left Doug’s house around 10:00 pm one Thursday night after one of these talking and planning sessions. At 10:00 am Friday morning Doug was notified that Dusty had an apparent heart attack at work and had gone to meet his maker. Doug continued to play Dusty’s and Jerry’s music and considered continuing with his and Dusty’s plans. Then there were legal issues that arose concerning the ownership of the work so Doug discounted the idea of continuing the project.

Doug began to write songs. In December of 2008, he decided to put together the songs for an album. He chose 13 of his songs and one John Prine