{"id":1319692,"date":"2020-04-29T11:32:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T17:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1820711"},"modified":"2020-04-29T11:32:46","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T17:32:46","slug":"the-k-is-silent-but-doug-douglason-is-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/the-k-is-silent-but-doug-douglason-is-not\/","title":{"rendered":"The K Is Silent, But Doug Douglason Is Not"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span>
\n55m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

Even though Hot Country Knights are just now releasing their debut album The K Is Silent<\/em> on Friday (May 1), they\u2019ve already had quite a few trips around the sun. And they\u2019re not afraid to tell you all about it. <\/p>\n

Especially when you get the band\u2019s frontman Doug Douglason on the phone. There is nothing he won\u2019t share, and no topic he\u2019ll turn down. And his ego is at least a country mile wide. The first thing Douglason told me, for example, is that the 10 tracks on the album aren\u2019t just songs influenced by \u201990s country. They are<\/em> 90s country. <\/p>\n

From their mullets to their minivan, Hot Country Knights have been there and that\u2019s why they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

CMT.com: Where are you calling from? Are you guys already on the road, even though we\u2019re supposed to be quarantined? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Doug Douglason: I\u2019m in our minivan, just me and the band. I\u2019m driving over to Dirk Brantley\u2019s house right now to use his free Wi-Fi for a little bit. Because he\u2019s got access to some websites I like, ones that need a little more streaming capabilities, if you know what I mean. Then he\u2019s got a port-a-potty out front that he lets us use, so we\u2019re all gonna clean up a little bit, and head on down to Teaser\u2019s to put on our show. It\u2019s Tuesdays at Teaser\u2019s.<\/p>\n

This Dirk Brantley. He produced your album, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I mean, if by producer you mean that he just kind of sat behind the controls in the studio and slept a lot, then I guess so.<\/p>\n

What was he like behind the scenes? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, he did give us $6,000 up front. But that\u2019s pretty much all he did. We had to do the rest of the work. He was going to take us out on tour, but with the quarantine, that probably worked out pretty good for him. Because the world wasn\u2019t ready for us. If they\u2019d seen us, we\u2019d definitely be closing out the shows instead of him. So I guess that it worked out well for him. But we\u2019re fine, because we\u2019re still playing while the rest of Nashville is shut down. We\u2019ve been playing Teaser\u2019s forever. The building holds about 200 people, and we usually have about 20 people show up. And that means there\u2019s 10\u2032 between everyone. It\u2019s not because we don\u2019t have a big following, it\u2019s because we\u2019re just trying to be forward thinking about our fan base and socially distancing. We were way ahead of the curve. People are trying to flatten the curve, but we\u2019ve been beyond the curve on this kind of thinking. That\u2019s just some of the more innovative stuff that we do as a country band. And we\u2019re pretty proud of that, that we\u2019re still working.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about other Man Bands in country music. Do you identify with more modern groups like Old Dominion, or more with the era of Shenandoahs, Diamond Rios and Emerson Drives?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mmmm. I love that. We are a Man Band, and we are driving around in a minivan. We do like the boys from Diamond Rio. They\u2019ve stolen a lot from us over the years. I mean, there are a lot of bands who have stolen from us. But I have to say I would never associate us with anybody but us. We\u2019re normal folks just like you, but we\u2019re kind of not. We\u2019re kind of special because we are the Hot Country Knights and no one else is. Our fan base knows that \u2014 even my special group. This whole time, I\u2019ve always been known as the Cougar King. <\/p>\n

Well since you brought it up, let\u2019s talk about that. When you do get to go out on tour \u2014 a real tour \u2014 what are your expectations groupie-wise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So the way it\u2019s worked in the band for years, is we each come up with a demo. So you know, Terry our fiddle player has the 18-25 group. And then for Barry our steel guitar player it\u2019s 25-30. I\u2019m have the oldest demo, actually, I\u2019m more in the 65 and older crowd. That\u2019s my wheelhouse. That\u2019s where I do my best work. So my gals are out there. They just want to play and don\u2019t want drama. They have a lot of wisdom and experience which is what I value over anything else. I\u2019ve got a certain section roped off for wheelchairs and accessibility for my audience, my fans. It\u2019s just my forward thinking and the way I give back. During these times, there are essential services that are needed and I definitely provide them for a lot of people in the demo. I\u2019m hoping to get back out there and be able to do what I do best, which is a play country music and then my after-show work. So I expect to be busy on and off stage. <\/p>\n

I was surprised to see that one of my favorite songs \u2014 the album\u2019s title track \u2014 has 12 guys listed as songwriters. Can you talk about what\u2019s that like when 12 voices are trying to be heard?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I think about most is when we get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and they mention that song, all of us are going to be there with our publishers. That\u2019s going to be a lot of people, because it\u2019s obviously one of the greatest songs in country music now. It took 12 people to come up with those lyrics like, Hey pretty baby. You\u2019re an 11, did it hurt when he fell from the sky? Fill up \u2019dem wings \u2019cause I\u2019m going to teach you how to soar. <\/em> That\u2019s just something you couldn\u2019t find anywhere else in country music. Maybe Dean Dillon on his best day. Maybe. But this is really just the genius of when you put 12 great minds together, in a minivan, you come up with something like that.<\/p>\n

The K Is Silent<\/em> comes out later this week, but the band has already released five music videos. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

Embedded from www.youtube.com<\/a>.