Nashville Journeyman DOUGLAS WAYNE Readies Debut Album COYOTE

January 4, 2022 by 1888media

Sometimes you have to live a little before you realize the truly important stuff, your calling in life, recognizing it’s not the designation but the journey, embracing the muse when it calls you. For singer-songwriter Douglas Wayne, who’s explored the vast caverns and roadways of the USA, that “moment” crystallized while obliterating triple digits, racing his ’71 Mustang convertible down a desolate Delaware beach road. Reckless behavior is thrilling but generally a sign that something is amiss, that it’s not enough to simply exist, that the spiritual search must persist. It was time to “do the music.”

Having done both oceans, DW followed his humbucker heart to Music City to dig into his deep love of music, soul, country, blues and a Fender amp or two. There was no map just a path. Be true.

The result is the freewheelin’ open-hearted prowl of Coyote, Wayne’s 10-song debut album produced by Daniel Dennis (Beth Crowley, Callie Prince, Chris Michael).

Steeped in the maverick thoroughways of Steve Earle, Lou Reed and Neil Young, it’s sometimes rough ‘n tumble, sometimes subtle, a bristling vibrancy in its kerfuffle. A peaceful easy feeling with a clean finish, it’s as smooth as a Belle Meade Bourbon with a splash of Appalachian agua.

Arriving April 22 via local label, ‘one horse nashville,’ the album was introduced last fall with the release of “I’m a-Gonna,” a twangy barroom ditty about pulling on the reins and taking yourself home before you muck up.

Up next is the Southern anthem, “HEY YA’LL,” which rumbles along in fine Americana fashion asking the eternal question “whatcha done done?” It’s an imagined conversation with regular folk in a place like his father’s hometown in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina.

DW didn’t set out to write a “message song.” It just happened. The pandemic, the January 6th insurrection, constant bad news about climate change…all these things came out in a rush. He wanted to join the conversation without being too preachy and admits the song owes much to his influences, “I’ve always thought ‘Ohio’ by Neil Young was a great song and I think we can use that kind of song now.”

Intentionally in capital letters, “HEY YA’LL” takes its seat at the table January 28 with a lyric video that features footage from the recording sessions.

Further focus tracks include the Neil Young inspired “High Wire,” the Jerry Lee Lewis boogie “Ain’t Young Ain’t Pretty,” the Memphis-brass shuffle, “Lettin’ Go of Hangin’ On,” and the Ry Cooder-esque title track, a not-so-thinly-veiled look at the firmament that is the music business. “It’s about my experience pitching to Music Row. It’s about the lip service and bromides ya hear from all quarters. About living on the outside looking in. It’s about talking some trash and being OK doing my own thing,” admits Wayne.

Coyote marks the second collaboration with Dennis. The pair worked together on DW’s 2019 EP, Ragged, which contained the Rolling Stones’ flavored sugar cane, “Partner in Crime.” For the new recording, Dennis, once again, enlisted some of Nashville’s finest including keyboardist Lee J. Turner (Darius Rucker, Bo Bice, Miranda Lambert), pedal steel player Mike Daly (Hank Williams Jr, Travis Tritt), Tim Lorsch (fiddle, cello) and vocalist Madison Hardy Dennis.

Music is first and foremost, Wayne’s passion, though he also does some freelance work in the fast-growing space of performant photogrammetry, an evolution of 3D scanning, and all the rage in the world of digital art/NFTs.

He’s also an animal rights activist, championing for the survival of African elephants, “These sentient magnificent creatures are literally being gunned down daily by poachers for the ivory. This is an obscene and deplorable reality. Not enough is being done to stop this atrocity so I support Save the Elephants and the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF).”

Zero poaching, zero preening, DW is ready to ditch live-streaming. After two years of writing, recording, and the occasional zoom excursion, Wayne is ready to bring the songs to life at a special record release show at The 5 Spot on May 3rd.

Assembling the cast and crew from Coyote, the journeyman is eager to roll the windows down, roll up his sleeves, rev the engine and see the needle get to a buck ten.