Doug Hoekstra – 12 Bar – May 20 by Joe Cushley

Alt-country artistes may sing of the desert and prairie, literally and metaphorically, but the genre is a pretty crowded field. It’s a treat, then, when someone genuinely original comes along. Hoekstra’s just such a maverick. Chicago-born but Nashville-based there is nary a grain of Nash Vegas flash in his style. Brit-eccentric Momus might have sounded like this is he had moved to Tennessee rather than New York.

Talking of the Big Apple there’s a touch of Unca Lou Reed in Doug’s erudite, world-weary, sprechgesang delivery; and delicate sonic reminders of Beck, Will Oldham and Teenage Fanclub also thread their way through his work, but ultimately Hoekstra is his own man. And to be quite frank his poetic, poignant but far from po-faced lyrics, knock his competitors into a Stetson hat. A legend waiting to happen.

Return to Press