virtualubbock - Doug Smith page 2

What's New? SHOP home Interviews Stories Links About Us Contact Us buy the book Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends of West Texas Music by Christopher Oglesby Published by the University of Texas Press: "As a whole, the interviews create a portrait not only of Lubbock's musicians and artists, but also of the musical community that has sustained them, including venues such as the legendary Cotton Club and the original Stubb's Barbecue. This kaleidoscopic portrait of the West Texas music scene gets to the heart of what it takes to create art in an isolated, often inhospitable environment. As Oglesby says, "Necessity is the mother of creation. Lubbock needed beauty, poetry, humor, and it needed to get up and shake its communal ass a bit or go mad from loneliness and boredom; so Lubbock created the amazing likes of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, and Joe Ely." buy the book "Indeed, Oglesby's introduction of more than two dozen musicians who called Lubbock home should be required reading not only for music fans, but for Lubbock residents and anyone thinking about moving here. On these pages, music becomes a part of Lubbock's living history." - William Kerns, Lubbock Avalanche Journal

-continued from page 1- Chris: Let’s get a little bit more into the subject: "Things that make your spirit move." Can you talk about your life and your music in relation to your environment here in West Texas? Do you feel that being a Texan - living in the West Texas Plains - affects your music? Is God speaking to you through this place? Or do you just consider yourself a piano player and lucky enough to live in Texas? Doug: Well, y’know…Both. I think that West Texas is great for me. There’s a sketch of West Texas that my grandmother painted. Right in the heart of West Texas, right where the bend occurs there’s a prickly pear with a yellow bloom on it… Chris: Kinda right around where Wink and Kermit are? Doug: Yes. Exactly. When I saw that, I was like, " What in…?" I didn’t really get it. So I called my grandmother up and I said, "Ma’am, what’s up with this West Texas thing? I don’t understand." ‘Cause she didn’t tell me she was even gonna’ send it. She said, "Well, have you ever heard that song ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’?" I said, "Well, of course," y’know. And she said, "Well, have you ever thought of; Back when that was written - How many domestic roses do you think was in Texas?" I thought, "None." And then I’m looking down at that thing, and she says, "Do you think The Yellow Rose of Texas could be a prickly pear bloomin’?" Because you know that is the native cactus. It’s all over Texas. Well, I thought, "God, is… That’s profound, y’know?" That’s something that I would have never thought. But she said, "That’s not the reason I painted it." She said, "That thought went through my head as I was painting that picture." She said, "The reason I painted it is because; After watching you grow for 35 years," she said, "I thought this prickly pear in West Texas was like a portrait or a ‘geographical’ sketch of you." And I said, "That don’t make any sense to me, grandmother." She said, "Well, what I mean," she said, "you have been forced to blossom in the desert with no rain." Chris: Wow. Doug: Isn’t that cool? Chris: That is cool. Doug: And so, for me - West Texas has been a blessing because of its lack of culture; because of its lack of people that know Mozart and Brahms and Bach and Beethoven; Because here, I’ve had to reach and really dig for the Masters and to learn "What music really is." Y’know what I mean? And along with that, West Texas is almost a perfect place for me. Because of its rustic beauty and space, I’m almost forced to create. You know what I mean? Because of the ability to see a moon rising and break the horizon. Out on my farm, when that sun comes up, I’m parallel to it. When it goes down, I’m parallel to it. It’s almost like you’re in the center of the universe, Man! And can just…Turn! Chris: That’s the feeling I have too. That’s what my little logo there on the card I gave you issupposed to be about... Doug: Well, no kiddin’! [ looks at it my business card] Well, Exactly! That’s what that is! I’ll be darned! Okay - Then you know what I’m talking about…That - to me - is what West Texas has. Chris: That’s a big part of it. A lot of people say that. I think that’s a lot of the reality of it. It makes you aware of "what is in that center point - right there;" and you’re relationship to everything around you. And that you gotta kinda be "brave" and "strong" and overcome the environment around you. Doug: Yes! People out here don’t give a damn if I play a piano or not. They don’t care if I’ve written 5,000 songs. They don’t care! Well, what a beautiful thing! What a humbling thing! What a way for people - literally - to put you so far upon your ass that you’re so humble that you HAVE to write! Chris: Yea. That’s awesome. Doug: That’s my case. I’ve been here all of my life. It’s my home… It’s the ultimate challenge to survive…As a piano player in West Texas. I mean, growing up in Kermit; Do you know how much hell I caught playing the piano? Y’know, guys makin’ fun of me… Chris: Right. It’s interesting that you introduce yourself as a "Piano Player;" Not "Pianist." That’s a little too ‘foo-foo’... Doug: [Laughs] Yea! You know what? I think that I have better insight now. I live out here in Petersberg. When I got married, and we were expecting our son it dawned on me that I just didn’t want to be in the city. You know what I mean? I wanted to be able to chase dogs, climb trees, throw clods, y’know what I mean? Walk down a dirt road. So I moved out to Petersberg. My daddy was born and raised out there. My granddad farmed land out there. We’ve been out there…I’ve had family out there in Petersberg for 87 years. I moved out here goin’ on ten years ago. And I thank God for it because I like livin’ in the country. I’m much more inspired. My writing has certainly taken on new depths since I’ve been out there. Chris: We were talkin’ about earlier; You said you had gained more insight into why people aren’t listenin’ to the music... Doug: Because most of the people in West Texas are either workin’ for an oil company, or workin’ for the school system, or the police station; In this part of the country, it’s rural America; Farmers. And boy! What a great respect I have for the farmer! But - okay - the American farmers don’t give a rat’s ass about "Art"…Culture… They don’t have time to! They’re workin’ their asses off just to make it - to get by. I think that is the most important part of our culture: Is farmin’. Not music, but farmin’. Hard serious work! And these people come from hard serious workers. Their people didn’t go out and hear a Mozart concert! Or a Doug Smith concert. Chris: Right. And while piano playin’ may be fine at church… Doug: It ain’t somethin’ you ever spend time thinkin’ about. Chris: It’s hard for them to consider that work? Doug: Right. Most of ‘em don’t. Most of the old timers give me hell all the time. I’ve grown to love ‘em because of their brutal honesty and their just massive hard work. So I think that’s part of it. Chris:That’s a lot of why I’m trying to publicize this music. It’s something that’s very important to me. It’s that ‘Spirit’ thing…You know there’s communication goin’ on there. Doug: And you know there’s Divine Intervention there. It’s obvious! Y’know - Lloyd Maines - He plays on several of my CDs... But Lloyd; It’s gotta be coming from some divine source because...Well, "he’s too stupid to play guitar like that!" [Laughs]. I’m the exact same way; I’m too stupid to play a piano like I do! [Laughs.] It’s divine intervention! [Laughs.] Lloyd’s amazing! Chris: He’s got a lot of Power! Doug: It is a lot of power. I have listened to him before and thought to myself, "This is like the equivalent of what Jimi Hendrix did." I mean, it’s that powerful! It’s like, "Whoa! I’ve never heard anything like this!" I mean, that’s real music! Chris: You were tellin’ me earlier that you are trying to come up with "a New Type of Music." Would you describe your music to me? Doug: It’s "Power Piano." That’s what it is; It’s Power Piano. How would you describe how Stevie Ray played his guitar? How would you describe what Lloyd Maines does to a pedal steel? It’s the same with me. It’s contemporary. It’s progressive, aggressive instrumental music. Even in the ballads that I write, there are points where I am just torkin’ down on that instrument; y’know what I mean? A big part of what I do is Dynamics; Because it will go from being as soft as a whisper to - the next second you turn around - you’re reachin’ over to turn your stereo down. It’s that dynamic range that I’m trying to develop. I write my songs into my power. I know where the strength of my power is, so I set my compositions up to accommodate that. What I mean by that is: Today when I play that song for you I might play a verse, a chorus, a verse, and a solo. I’ll play a solo for two or three minutes. But if I was playin’ that song Live, and I had 800 people out there, I might play a verse, a chorus, a verse, and a twelve minute solo, you see what I’m sayin’? How people inspire me…How people are reactin’ to what I’m doin’…The situation always delegates how I play. Also, I play a different instrument every time I perform. Like on the Tech stage or in Post at the Garza Theater; I have to adjust to the feel of whatever piano I’m playin’ that particular night. Now, the melodies of my songs never change. You can whistle a melody, and that melody is gonna be the same. But I might change the speed; I might slow it down; I might put it in a different key. Chris: Is this a Jazz influence? Doug: Oh yes. Definitely. There’s a tremendous jazz influence. Chris: Would you call your piano playin’ ‘Jazz Piano?’ Doug: Yes. But I would call it Rock and Blues and Ragtime and Classical and Country… Chris: "Power Piano." Doug: Power Piano. But, yes. It definitely is influenced by Jazz. That’s part of the trouble that I’ve had with my marketing is that it isn’t just one style of music. My music fuses through everything that has influenced me, which is from Bach and Mozart and Tchaikovsky and Lisdt and Brahms to Oscar Peterson, and Art Tatum, Miles Davis, Chic Chorea, Keith Jarrett, all these Jazz Greats, too. But also - as a kid growin’ in Kermit - I wasn’t listenin’ to Jazz. I was listenin’ to Country music. Fiddles and guitars. And even Gospel music. Growin’ up, goin to church…My parents took me to church. I heard all of the Gospel music. So that influenced me as well. Chris: Right. I think that is one of common problems with all of the people that we’re callin’ Lubbock Musicians. You can’t put ‘em in a category very easily. You can’t call Joe Ely a "Country Band"...or a "Rock Band." But the sellin’ end of it - I guess - is a totally different thing than the makin’ of it… Doug: Oh, absolutely! Let’s just face it; West Texas is so barren and so wide open and so agricultural related, that the guys that are interested in music, that’s all they had to do, was to hone in on an instrument and to begin to develop a sound. That’s what Joe did. That’s what Lloyd did. That’s what Jesse did. That’s what Terry did. That’s what I did. Chris: You’re right. And plenty of time to do it. Doug: "Time is to the musician what space is to the painter." The painter begins with a canvas. The musician begins with Time and Thought and, "What can I do to develop these things?" Chris: Time’s something you've got; Plenty of it. Doug: You do got plenty of it out here, y’know. I think a big part of it. -End- Return to Interviews or Home Do you like the interviews you have been reading on virtualubbock.com? Buy the book by author Christopher Oglesby Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends of West Texas Music "As a whole, the interviews create a portrait not only of Lubbock's musicians and artists, but also of the musical community that has sustained them, including venues such as the legendary Cotton Club and the original Stubb's Barbecue. This kaleidoscopic portrait of the West Texas music scene gets to the heart of what it takes to create art in an isolated, often inhospitable environment. As Oglesby says, "Necessity is the mother of creation. Lubbock needed beauty, poetry, humor, and it needed to get up and shake its communal ass a bit or go mad from loneliness and boredom; so Lubbock created the amazing likes of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, and Joe Ely." - University of Texas Press buy the book

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