For alt-country rocker, studio musician and producer Luke Doucet, being on the road since the age of 18 is finally paying off.

Doucet and his band The White Falcon have been busy touring all over the U.S. and Canada, opening for both Blue Rodeo and James Blunt in promotion for the now year-old Blood’s Too Rich album.

A native of Winnipeg, Doucet’s musical career began at the age of 15 at the Times Change(d) club on Main Street, playing in a blues band with his dad – an experienced jazz guitarist from New Orleans.

“Winnipeg is still the only place I can call home,” the 35-year-old said by phone from Hamilton, where he currently resides with his wife, singer-songwriter Melissa McClelland.

After paying his dues as a studio musician for the likes of Sarah McLachlan and Chantal Kreviazuk, Doucet fronted the now-defunct, spacey surf-rock outfit Veal, before venturing out on his own as a solo artist.
To define Doucet’s sound, you might have to rummage through your parents record collection.

“The scarf rock kids don’t necessarily dig on their parents’ music,” Doucet said, but that’s exactly what he did, borrowing elements from The Band and Tom Petty and mixing them with Dire Straits and The Cure.

“ In our culture, we’ve been lead to believe that we should all be continuously embarked on a self-help program. Sometimes I wonder if that’s smart.

Luke Doucet, musician

While his Juno-nominated sophomore studio album Broken (And Other Rogue States) was rife with alcohol-fuelled, bitter break-up songs, his follow-up release Blood’s Too Rich explores themes of identity and family.

“It plays on the adage that blood is thicker than water. You don’t necessarily choose who you are at the end of the day,” Doucet explained. “In our culture, we’ve been lead to believe that we should all be continuously embarked on a self-help program. Sometimes I wonder if that’s smart. Maybe our energies are spent better elsewhere.”

Doucet spent six months living in Nashville with McClelland, where he wrote most of the record. As a result, it’s filled with homesick references to Canada and a sense of longing for home.
“To be honest, I felt like a fish out of the water down there,” Doucet said.

His dusty-twang guitar heavy blend of prairie-bred country and blues garnered critical acclaim and, ironically, won Best Contemporary Album at the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

“As a studio musician the rule was always less is more, but I finally realized making my own records, I don’t want to play less. I want to play more,” he said. “I don’t really see it as a folk album, but if that’s the way people want to look at it, then that’s cool.”

And what’s next? Doucet is heading into the studio in June to work on his next album, which he hopes will drift away from autobiographical songwriting.

“I’ve made a lot of records in my life and I’ve told a lot of stories. It’s time to start looking outward,” he said.

The record will be produced by Sloan drummer Andrew Scott, and will be the first time Doucet is not producing himself.

“I don’t foresee my life changing very much,” he concluded. “It’s possible I’ll sell more records or play bigger crowds, but I just do what I’ve done since I was 18 – make records and go on tour.”

Published in Volume 63, Number 22 of The Uniter (March 5, 2009)