With heart-wrenching lyrics and themes magnified by one of country music's greatest voices, Ducas' new album carries a distinct feeling of history being born
By Jon Stojan, Rolling Stone UK
With previous hits such as ‘Teardrops’, ‘Lipstick Promises’, and ‘Every Time She Passes By’, and the releases of albums like Yellow Rose Motel that capture the heart of both Texas dancehalls and West Coast honky tonk, it’s not every day that a country music artist seamlessly blends the unshakable guts of Dust Bowl daydreams with the jacked-up propulsion of early Bakersfield. Not only is this what country music singer/songwriter George Ducas has managed to accomplish throughout his career, but it’s also been brought to life, perhaps more than ever, on his latest album, Long Way From Home. With heart-wrenching lyrics and themes magnified by one of country music’s greatest voices, Ducas’ new album carries a distinct feeling of history being born.
Texas to California. Roundtrip
Hailing from Galveston, Texas, and growing up in Texas City, Ducas moved with his mother and sister to Southern California when the future star was only five. As most musical creators do, Ducas began dabbling in songwriting so young that he barely understood the messages his songs were crafting. Speaking on his first-ever song, ‘Women and Whiskey’, which he penned during his pre-teen years, Ducas says, “I was not real sure what I knew about either of those subjects at the time, but I totally understood where it would fit in with what I was listening to.”
All artists start with some form of emulation, and for Ducas, his first song resembled something reminiscent of one of his biggest inspirations, the great Willie Nelson. “Willie Nelson’s songs taught me song structure, and one of his live shows was my first concert,” Ducas recalls. “I walked out of the building that night imagining what it would feel like to be playing on that stage.” Ducas would later realise this reverie after performing only his second show as a signed artist, opening for Alan Jackson at the Summit in Houston — the same stage where he saw Willie for the first time.
Just Getting Started
Since that hometown show in Houston, not only has Ducas scored multiple Billboard charting hits and reached the Billboard Top 10 with “Lipstick Promises,” but he has also gone on to write mega-hit, multi-platinum records for some all-time greats. Ducas has been nominated for a Grammy Award, worked with some of the best in the industry, and reached heights his younger self could only dream about. Still, the artist is only just getting started, and his newest album, Long Way From Home, is geared up to showcase the one-of-a-kind talent and passion that radiates from Ducas’ heart.
Teaming up with multi-Platinum Grammy-nominated producer/guitarist Pete Anderson, Ducas’ new album is sitting at the apex of the artists’ journey thus far. And it sure doesn’t hurt that Anderson, a certified star-spotter, has nothing but praise for Ducas.
In his own words, Anderson says: “In my experience, when the artist is immediately great, you can almost hear how you can be part of something that the world needs to hear. George has that power and talent.” Anderson continues, “Producing the best music, and George Ducas is surely that, is an exciting journey to a place that opens reality up to such undeniable feelings when it really works right.”
Ducas describes his collaboration with Anderson — best known for his award-winning productions (Jackson Browne, k.d. Lang, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams) — as “[A] monumental experience, an ideal partnership, and a massive step forward, start to finish.”
Long Way From Home
In looking at how to capture in words what his music is striving for, George Ducas says it best himself: “I wanted the songs I wrote for this album to be what would happen if ’67 Merle Haggard met up maybe with the ’74 Eagles in L.A., and they hit it off and decide to play a show at Gilley’s in Pasadena (Texas) in 1981.”
That’s saying a lot, which is precisely what this man has been able to do on his new unforgettable album, Long Way From Home.
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