doug duffey- solo

i heard through the grapevine that there was an opening for a solo artist [piano/vocal] at the tricou house [711 bourbon] i applied and got the gig... and a new life began. after working with bands and traveling around the country for years, it was a blessing to be able to stay home and 'work steady'. working bourbon street 6 days a week was a real learning experience, and i learned a lot as both player and performer. i'd never done a lot of solo gigs, and realized i needed to make the piano become "my band"; so my left hand became the bassist, my left foot became the drummer, the right hand both rhythm and lead instrument... with my voice on top of it all.
i was totally self contained. being a "one-man band" was work!...but it got to be 2nd nature. my left hand got so strong i was breaking the bass strings [which didn't please the club owner] ... BUT i always packed the joint! so all was forgiven.
it was also inspirational; there was so much visual and auditory material [conversations, street scenes, crazy people, etc] swirling around twenty four hours a day; it was a songwriter's goldmine... and many songs came from that period. i feel like i found myself both musically, artistically and spiritually then and there.
[c]2009 doug duffey

doug duffey's new orleans rhythm & blues revue

after street level i started "doug duffey's new orleans rhythm and blues revue" -which was not a revue at all- we did all r&b/soul/old new orleans hits/ cover material. we started on bourbon street [as paid rehearsal] then graduated to the regular clubs in town [muddy waters, etc] we did shows around louisiana, and did some cruise ship gigs [cancun, cozumel, belize]. i was also going back and forth from new orleans to shreveport working with jerry beach, or blues singer betty lewis, or drummer brady blade. BUT doing cover tunes- even if they were some of my favourite old new orleans/R&B/soul hits- was NOT what i wanted to do... again. it was a means to an end... but the ends still didnt meet so i decided to go solo!
[c]2009 doug duffey

doug duffey/street level/new orleans

back in new orleans i 1st began playing some local gigs with various bands to make some money; but i really wanted to be doing my original music: thus, 'doug duffey/street level/new orleans' came about.

bill dunn [who'd been with me in 'white lightning', 'merging traffic', 'duffey's plantation band' and 'the next'] and tim blunk * joined, moved to new orleans, and thus we began.
i met carl whitehead [also from monroe] at storyville who was also interested in doing an all original music band. linda bailey


we were doing what we called "techno-voodoo-euro-gumbo" -funk-rock-dance music- and it was very ahead of it's time. most of the subject matter in the songs was very dark and explicit lyrically - nothing was taboo- and that's exactly what i wanted! i wanted to push the limits.

we did the 1st 1/2 of each set with drum machine/2 keyboards/guitar, the second 1/2 with real drums/2 keyboards/guitar; starting out very techno funk & rock, progressing into techno rock and real rock. [carl played drums & keys; bill played keys, flute and sax]- we didn't use a bass player- i wanted the band to be a new-age punk funk version of 'traffic' and 'the doors'
we did some "opening act" shows at storyville [for disco diva's 'the wetaher girls' and drag queen/actor/actress/singer 'divine']- played various clubs around town [the dream palace, cafe brasil, etc] and clubs around the state. we did a good 'live' wtul radio broadcast at tipitina's- and recorded several gigs: which need to be digitized and put online!

later bill quit and was replaced by ricky andrews; we soldiered on a while but unfortunately the band didn't survive; it was too progressive at the time... and, new orleans has never been musically 'progressive'.
[a sad note: both tim and bill are deceased. they were my best friends... and i miss them 

terribly.

[c]2009 doug duffey

stage 618 [shreveport]

the stage 618 band [circa 1986]
i moved to Shreveport to work with the stage 618 band. this was a 7 piece rhythm and blues band [with a great horn section] featuring guitarist, Jerry Beach [who wrote the evergreen blues hit "I'll play the blues for you" for Albert King] it was a monster band, and a great club [also named 'stage 618' because of the street address] on the riverfront in Shreveport.

we worked 3 nights a week at the club- sometimes did private p[arties and festivals. in my off time i put together a 3-piece techno funk jam band called "chill factor"- [this was the pre-cursor to 'doug duffey/street level/new orleans'] which played outside the club, around town.. although the trio was funk jam, i have some great 'live' recordings with country musicians from the 'louisiana hayride' sitting in one night- with steel guitar and fiddles- which made for a very crazy sound. great night!
i wrote a lot of material while in Shreveport, and again...some of those songs wound up on my various cds, later.[c]2009 doug duffey

the urge- linda bailey- silverheels

i left louisiana in 1984 and went back to little rock to work with some old friends who were forming a 'new' 'super-group'; but, they were doing 90% cover material, and i wasn't very into it. [although we did some recordings of my original music in nashville]

we wound up backing vocalist linda bailey, and playing in nashville, las vegas and elsewhere. due to disputes, the group folded, and linda and i went on with a local band 'silverheels' backing us, until bad health prevented her performing. i hung on w/the band a while, but eventually bailed.

while in little rock, i met guitarist, tim blunk*; we were absolutely on the same musical wave length. we were both funk freaks [loved james brown, prince, the time, pfunk, etc.] he came over and played guitar on all my home demo 4-track cassette 'song writer' tracks [which later ended up in my various repertoires and re-cut on several of my cds].. he always knew instinctively what was right! he was amazingly funky.

[c]2009 doug duffey

champagne- doug duffey & the distracters- the next

champagne:[original members-when i joined]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
gene thompson- bass/vocals
gary acklen- keys/vocals
john brown- drums

in monroe, i began working with/ fronting a band called Champagne, which had been around a while and was a successful partyand club band. we worked the louisiana and mississippi club and college circuits. we did almost 90% covers- all the top 40 hits- which was not really what i wanted to do musically...but it was a good band...

we recorded several of my songs at jy studios, which i unfortunately shelved until i could get enough for a complete lp. but, that never happened for various reasons. [but those tracks may get digitized and re-surface online soon]

i eventually left Champagne, taking some of the band with me, and started 'doug duffey and the distracters" - a more rock/new wave oriented band.distractors: [1st version]
doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
larry allen- bass
randy ross- drums

oddly enough, the band eventually changed back to most of the original champagne members. and the spelling of the name changed too...

doug duffey- vocals
bryan armer- guitar/vocals
albert moore- bass
ricky andrews- keys
john brown- drums

other members:
george phillips- keys
paul torbert- guitar

when the eventual demise of DD&TD came, i began 'doug duffey and the next' [since it was 'the next' band] - we were more of a punk/jam/improvisational band, and dabbled in funk, reggae and ska [we were even doing classic rock songs in reggae/ska style]- as well as R&B and rock... and total chaos most of the time.

doug duffey & the next:
doug duffey- vocals/keys
bill dunn- vocals/sax/flute
peter harmon- guitar/vocals
mike starns- bass
george phillips-keys
brent adams- drums

[c]2009 doug duffey

razin' cain [new orleans- late 70s]

razin cain:
doug duffey [vocal/keyboards]
billy gregory [vocal/guitar]
ricky cortes[bass]
jay gernsbacher [drums]

later additional member: harold kelt- keyboards
i left Hollywood and went back to New Orleans around 1976. i hooked up with Billy Gregory [former guitarist of "it's a beautiful day"] and we put razin' cain together. we started out doing the late night shift at 'the absinthe bar' on bourbon street- playing 12-4AM, but moved around town, playing Jimmy's, the Dream Palace, Rosie's, some wild bars in Metairie and Uptown.

this was the first band i'd been in that did 100% original music! i wrote 90% of it, Billy wrote the rest. we were the "enfants terrible " of the french quarter, and a force to be reckoned with. we did high energy funky rock music. we did pretty wild shows, and had a very loyal following. at Deja Vu where we were practically the house band- they even named 'our' [basically my] drink [brandy & peppermint schnapps] after us.

we were being courted by record labels. we did a 6 or 7song band demo at ronnie cole's. Billy ended up going to france working with jacques higelin, then to Milan working with Andy J Forest- and the band- which was supposed to follow- was put on hold... two songs from the sessions wound up on billy's "it's a bluesy day" solo lp. [appaloosa records] songs: "didn't we ramble didn't we roll' [written by me] and "time and money" [written by me and billy]- with me doing the vocals.

we got some great live recordings at Rosie's [a great,but now defunct new orleans club] - and while on the road. have a particularly raucous recording live in Destin.

in 1977 i got a call from george clinton to go to detroit and begin work on my album, which he was going to produce. he flew me up and we recorded several music tracks which i either wrote [which later became "silly millameter" ] or co-wrote [which later became: "one nation under a groove"!]. i am not listed on the alums credits for One Nation-although the music writing sessions consisted of me, gary shider and junie morrison- and i DO i have the daily session cassettes as proof! george and his various children 'supposedly' co-wrote the lyrics to both "songs" later.

although 'one nation' became not only Funkadelic's biggest hit [and has been sampled to death by damned near every rap from 'de la soul' onward- especially the middle section which i wrote!] and 'silly millameter' appeared on george's "you should nuf bit fish" - i never saw anything from either.

i stayed in new orleans doing some solo gigs and putting together some "jam bands" that played locally until 1981...thinking razin' cain would get back together... when we didnt, i moved back home to monroe.
[c]2009 doug duffey