- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
ARTiST... doug lambert
ALBUM.... live at earhole
LABEL.... CDBABY
CAT.NUM.. n/a
GENRE.... Rock
RiP.DATE. Jul-19-2009
SOURCE... CDDA
PLAYTIME. 27:36 min
SIZE..... 33,9 MB
ENCODER.. LAME v3.97 -V2 --vbr-new
TRACKS... 09
QUALiTY.. VBRkbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
[01] friend [04:31]
[02] found [01:35]
[03] love sanity [02:54]
[04] ordinary day [01:25]
[05] unjustifiable love [04:31]
[06] do what you love [03:17]
[07] share with me [02:34]
[08] tremble [04:28]
[09] wish i had one more day [02:21]
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Hey friend.
How can you not like a guy whose first words on his first album are ôHey
friend?ö
Friend. ThatÆs the word that resonates the most after you give Doug LambertÆs
first album, LIVE at earhole, a few listens.
An old friend, a good friend. The kind of guy who tells you the truth; gives it
to you straight. No pretensions, no clichΘs. Fortunately for the rest of us,
Doug accompanies all those unadorned truths with a confident voice and
stick-in-your-craw melodies that catch up with you when youÆre walking down the
street, or thinking about why you fell in love in the first place. The lyrics
are lived in and heartfelt, and the riffs are earned the old fashioned way:
from years of playing.
DougÆs progression from a guy playing around Ball State University to
performing during SXSW begins the way a lot of these stories do: A gift from
mom: an electric guitar and a small amp. A 14-year-old kid holed up in his
room, playing for hours. Next thing you know, Doug is forming bands with
friends. ItÆs not long before he is penning his own thoughtful lyrics, writing
songs and performing them live.
Once he went off to college, Doug hooked up with other like-minded players and
began collaborating with them, creating and fine-tuning songs like ôTrembleö
and ôUnjustifiable Love.ö
After college, Doug had the opportunity to live next door to his 90-year-old
grandfather. Here he was able to play music with the old man, hear his stories
and write more songs. When DougÆs grandfather passed away, the line between
love and loss was clarified.
YouÆre gonna live forever in my heartàyour pain is my pain. You hurt and I feel
it. CanÆt you see these words have meaning?
When Doug moved to Chicago, the writing continued, and the live performances
started up again, as Doug tried out his new compositions at small local venues.
After getting married in 2005 (to the lovely Cyndi McVicker) a shift in
opportunity and overall writing had taken place and songs such as ôWish I Had
One More Dayö came to be.
I loved you from the start
You loved me from the heart
If Doug has a niche itÆs this: He writes from the heart about the things that
matter. These songs are about family and friendship and connections. Hope.
Living without regrets. Embracing the possibilities. All the important stuff.
And, yes, he writes and sings about love. Sweet, glorious, unjustifiable and
unconditional love.
ItÆs no coincidence that a third of the songs have love in the title. Or that
they offer sentiments like ôDo What You Loveö or ôWish I Had One More Day.ö Or
that the first song is called ôFriend.ö
So what does he sound like?
Doug is cast from the classic singer/songwriter mold. He has the ability to
tell you a story you can not only feel and relate to, but sing along with and
tap your toes to. The funky acoustic picking gives off hints of Dave Mathews
and John Mayer; when the gonzo drumming of Adam Wiebe kicks in it conjures
memories of some long lost Zeppelin acoustic stomper. A little shuffle, a
little country. By the end of the album you will be convinced: These guys can
rock too.
And then thereÆs that voice. Confident, authentic, versatile. It veers from the
weary and reflective narrator of ôFound,ö to the insistent pleas of ôDo What
You Love.ö
You can hear Chicago in the songs. Straight forward, Midwestern values, honest
lyrics delivered in that sturdy, confident voice. There might be a few detours
to Nashville and Seattle along the way, but these tunes always come back home.
Think of it as Midwestern soul. If you like the songs of John Prine, but wish
he had the heft and urgency of an Eddie Vedder, thatÆs kind of Doug.
Love, simple but true.
ItÆs all the same until it happens to you.
Simple and trueàthatÆs Doug, and his first album: An old friend sitting in your
living room, better yet around a campfire, or your favorite club, strumming a
guitar, wrapping simple truths around assured melodies. The kind that pop into
your head three days later and you find yourself walking down the street
singing along to them.
Today, Doug has the good fortune of collaborating with the fine folks at
earhole studios in Chicago, who captured this album in a single night of
playing and singing.
Midway through the album, on ôDo What You Love,ö a song about missed
opportunities and not taking risks, Doug asks over and over:
What makes you happy? What makes you happy? Why the hell donÆt we do what we
love?
After you see Doug live, youÆll know that Doug is doing exactly what he loves.
And that should make the rest of us discerning listeners very happy indeed: We
have a new musical friend.
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