"Take Country Back" album review: DouganJones: Morningside
AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back September 2002
Morningside is the debut release of the Mississippi based, alt-country duo DouganJones, singer-songwriters Katherine R. Dougan and Steven Jones. Morningside is an acoustic effort of country/folk, recorded live in the studio.
The duo met and started playing music together after meeting in 2001, when Dougan moved to Jackson. In addition to acoustic guitar, Dougan also plays piano and flute. As a child, her earliest influence was the Tennessee mountain music her mother's large family would play on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, that included instruments that ranged from the mandolin to spoons to a washtub bass. Her other influences include many older country artists, particularly Hank Williams Sr., as well as more contemporary artists such as EmmyLou Harris, Gram Parsons, John Prine, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Lucinda Williams and Julie and Buddy Miller.
Jones, a pharmacist, moved to Jackson with his wife 4 years ago. He plays acoustic guitar and mandolin, and recently bought a banjo and a lime green 1950 Mason lap steel which he is teaching himself to play. He grew up listening to his father's Beatles and Bob Dylan tapes, and his other influences include Uncle Tupelo, Blue Mountain, Counting Crows, Kevin Kinney, Lucinda Williams and Ryan Adams.
Katherine Dougan wrote and sings on 10 of Morningside's 12 tracks. Her voice is reminiscent of Stevie Nicks crossed with Lucinda Williams' loopiness, topped with a thick southern twang. Her songs mainly revolve around the theme of failed relationships. Her early influences of Tennessee mountain music particularly come through on "We're All Gonna Die One Day," "No Luck With Men," and "Low Side Of Low." The strongest of her songs lean towards the slightly more folky ache of "Carry On," and "Maryland And Mississippi," it's hauntingly pretty melody accented by flute.
Steven Jones contributes two tracks and vocals with "Get Me Out Of This Town," and "Something Blue." Both are well written, strong efforts, and with Dougan on backing harmonies, the sound brings a more stripped down Whiskeytown to mind.
Morningside contains some strong songwriting and good vocals, making for a nice debut. Their vocal interactions work very well, and Jones' has some very good songwriting skills of his own. Perhaps on their next outing, we'll see a little more of each.
Morningside is available at
www.cdbaby.com
You can visit DouganJones' website at
www.douganjones.com
AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back September 2002