Biographies
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The
Doug Moreland Show
Biography
My name is Doug Moreland. I'm a west Texas fiddler, songwriter,
and entertainer (and chainsaw artist!). I currently reside near Austin Texas, and travel
throughout the state and abroad performing my own songs with an
original, swingin', country & western band. I simply call it The Doug
Moreland Show. (Left: photo by Kerry Hock, 2007)
Noteworthy Appearances
The Doug Moreland Show currently performs around 150 shows per year
around the state and abroad. Internationally, we have performed in
Bocas del Toro, Panama, as well as in festivals in Holland, Germany,
Belgium, and France. We have performed with well-established acts
such as Willie Nelson and Asleep At The Wheel. Upcoming dates
include the MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado
in January 2009, and a European tour in July 2009.
(Right: photo 2003)
Musical Merit
I received a Will Rogers Cowboy Award for Western Music Male Performer of the Year at the Academy of Western Artists Awards show in August 2007.
I also won Entertainer of the Year at the Texas Music Awards in
April 2007.
I have recorded 3 live albums and 3 studio albums, all songs written or
co-written by myself. I contributed original recordings on KVET's
Christmas and Gospel compilation albums, and
on K.R. Wood's Fathers Of Texas Series Davy
Crockett's Fiddle Plays On, which was recorded live at the Alamo in San Antonio,
Texas (the first and only recordings ever held there). My latest
studio project involves Ray Benson at his Bismeaux Studios in Austin,
Texas, and is due out early 2009.
(Left: photo by Freddy Martinez, 2007)
Doug
Moreland
Doug was born & raised in the Davis Mountains of Texas. He took
piano & violin lessons there as a child, but never showed a genuine interest
until
his latter teens. His musical influence came mainly from his father, who
played fiddle & guitar in his own cowboy band. Doug decided at
the age of 17 to pursue a musical career, leaving Fort Davis directly upon
high school graduation and heading off to Levelland, Texas to attend South
Plains College for study in commercial music. He played fiddle for
the Bent Tree Jamboree Dinner Theater in Ruidoso, NM during the summers of
1993 to 1996, and in the Barleen Family Dinner Theatre in Phoenix, AZ over
the winters of 1995 & 1996. While in Phoenix, he acquired a McNab puppy he named Holly-peño, who eventually became a
significant element to his musical act. Between 1994 & 1999, Doug
moved between Phoenix, Ruidoso, Nashville, East Tennessee, Dallas, and
Austin several times, playing fiddle with numerous cover bands and picking
up odd jobs in between. In 1999, Doug decided he would rather work
for himself and play his own songs, so with the help of friend John
Wheeler (of later Hayseed-Dixie fame), he recorded his first two albums, with
all-original material, and made a final move to Austin to start up his own
band. He didn't get his band put together, but he got himself in the
middle of the emerging Texas Music circuit, opening shows for the likes
of Cory Morrow, Pat Green, Roger Creager, and others. Doug stood out
with his musical comedy routine accompanied by just a guitar and
a
fiddle-playing dog. In 2000, Doug & Holly co-hosted the Willie Nelson picnic
and recorded a Live album in front of a sold out College Station crowd.
Doug recorded another Live album in 2002 (his fourth). In 2003, the
duo appeared on national television as guests of The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno, Animal Planet's Pet Star, and Ripley's Believe It
Or Not. In 2004,
Doug released his 5th album Everybody Knows My Name (full studio
production) under his own BigHat Records label. He finally got his
Big Hat Band put together that year, but felt discontent with the instrumentation.
He also lost Holly-peño his singing & fiddle-playing sidekick in July
2004, so he decided to start all over in 2005. Doug
reformed his show as an all-acoustic trio (fiddle, guitar, and upright
bass), with their debut performance opening for Willie Nelson! By
the end of 2005, the Doug Moreland Show was in full swing as a 5-piece
band with the addition of drums and piano. 2006 saw things growing
even bigger as his new group recorded & produced their own full-band project
titled Doug Moreland. This 6th album released in October 2006.
Rounding up 2007, the band replaced the piano with a steel guitar, and
then started up plans for a new album in summer 2008 under the production
of Grammy winning artists Ray Benson & Asleep At The Wheel.
(photo Gruene Hall, 2004)
Dan Johnson
Dan was born into a musical family. His great-grandmother played piano and sang
in private clubs back in the 40’s and 50’s. Both his great-grandfather and
grandfather were fiddlers. And Dan’s father was a professional musician all of
his life, and was a top mandolin player in Houston at the time of his death nine
years ago. Dan credits his dad as his musical inspiration. He started Dan
playing guitar at the age of 12, and encouraged him do his first national tour
at the age of 17 while he was still in high school. Dan spent two years at
Alvin Junior College studying sound production before he turned his sights on
the steel guitar. He has toured with Hank Williams III, John Evans, and Jarrod
Birmingham, prior to joining Doug Moreland in 2007. In the fall of 2007, Dan
released his first solo steel guitar album The Curse of the Fender Triple
Eight. Although he was born in Florida, Dan counts Texas as home, having
lived here since he was eight years old. (photo by Alfred Mathis of
The Studio - Tyler, Texas,
2007)
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