Shame on me if I ever think it a bad time to remind people what a brilliant and exciting debut album Geroge Ducas recorded 32 years ago.
If you want to artistically locate George Ducas within the ’90s country timeline, he kept the closest sonic company with James House, Radney Foster, Dwight Yoakam, and The Mavericks. Similar to Bob Woodruff, however, Ducas never pretended country music was part of his formative listening years. He said, “My parents didn’t listen to Lefty Frizell, and Ray Price was not in my house.” He shared listening to his old brother’s Tom Petty and Rolling Stones records while counting Stevie Ray Vaughan among his favourite guitarists. “There were a lot of holes in my musical history, when I first moved to Nashville,” he said.
It is cool to hear somebody raised in Texas City, Texas admit he needed to take his country music vitamins to grow up as a country artist. He was not afraid of his history lessons. What’s more, he did it because he wanted to. He had fallen in love with Music City’s local music scene while studying at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University for an economics degree. Upon graduation in 1988, he segued his educational experience into a job in an Atlanta, Georgia bank long enough to know he hated it. He returned to Nashville in 1990 to make a determined and focused effort at a music career.
Ducas started by playing Nashville clubs at night and writing songs during the day. “ I decided I didn’t want to take a job as a waiter or bar tender and just wait for something to happen. I was committed to working in music. I played four or five days a week and I felt proud because I was actually playing music for a living,” he said. He had a standing weekend gig at Amy’s, a pool hall and dive bar at 2219 Elliston Place, just opposite the more prestigious Exit/In (Amy’s is now The End). It cost a buck to get in the door to listen to Ducas’ acoustic sets. In a 2020 interview, he told Country Universe’s Sam Gazdziak, “They served beer by the quart. I’d walk out at 2am, and I almost felt like a stripper – I had $300 in ones in my pocket.”
Ducas got his break in 1992 when Radney Foster took “Just Call Me Lonesome” into the top ten. Ducas co-wrote that song with Foster. The propulsive Bakersfield sound on that shuffling hit suggested Ducas was a quick study at the feet of the 50’s and 60’s country music masters like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Emboldened by his chart success and Jimmy Bowen offering him a recording contract at Amy’s, Ducas reached out to producer Richard Bennett whose name he recognized only from record sleeves for his studio work with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Marty Stuart. Ducas said, “…what really drew me to him was that, like me, he favoured a full, guitar-driven sound.”
In turn, Bennett said, “I look for passionate people. They know who they are and what they want to do. When I get involved, I get into their artistry. I’ll let them lead me, and I explore avenues with them. Hopefully, the end result enhances the artist’s dream.” For Ducas, that dream came true on September 12, 1994 with the release of his eponymous debut album on Liberty Records.
The first single from the album was a sparkling Terry McBride co-write titled “Teardrops.” McBride would also include the song on his third MCA album released the same year. Ducas’ version peaked at #38. The second single, “Lipstick Promises” cracked the top ten and had all the makings of a breakout hit. Ducas’ career appeared poised to take flight, but the follow up single, “Hello Cruel World” lived up to its title and only made it to #52. The fourth and final single from George Ducas was its own appropriately titled kiss-off; “Kisses Don’t Lie” barely smudged the charts at #72.
In no time at all, it seemed as though Ducas was already wishing for a way back into Nashville’s heart. For all the promise, buzz, and hype surrounding “Lipstick Promises,” it became his only hit. He would get a second shot at mainstream success but the release of Where I Stand was delayed until 1997 and the hits predictably did not follow. He was dropped from his Capitol recording deal.
This swirling ten song collection is in serious contention for the coolest album of the nineties. It’s that good. It is bright, propulsive, and jangly. It is contemporary and classic, but not to the extant it fetishizes tradition or handles the past like a museum piece. Ducas makes inclusive connections without any hint of being a copycat revivalist. Although clearly rooted in California country music, George Ducas drew equal inspiration from the soaring pop melodies and up-front rock guitars of Ducas’ youth. His songwriting and singing are a fulfillment of all those traditions, and Richard Bennett expertly and intentionally captured that vibe. Along the way, I am not sure Ducas has ever received enough acknowledgement for what a skilled and controlled vocalist he is. Is it too weird and dated a comparison to suggest his precise enunciation brings to mind Hank Snow? Genuine artistic freedom informs his sound as much as the tight jeans and low-slung cowboy hats of his early promotional photos. It matters to me that Ducas has repeatedly said he is proud of his debut album. This album sounds like both Bennett and Ducas knew what they wanted to accomplish and create when recording it.
It had to have helped that Ducas was able to write with Kim Richey, Tia Sellers, Angelo, Gary Nicholson, Michael P. Heeney, and Ty Tyler. Deryl Dodd, Jim Lauderdale, Kim Richey, and Harry Stinson provided background vocals. The musicians included Angelo, Bennett, Billy Bremner, Mike Brignardello, Terry Crisp, Chad Cromwell, Dan Dugmore, Glen Duncan, Dave Hoffner, Larry Mars, Hank singer, and Billy Thomas. That is a special assembly of slightly left-of-centre talent and experience to work with right out of the gates for a young artist.
Thankfully, Ducas did not leave us waiting for more music since his debut. He had mainstream success over the years placing songs with other artists. Gary Allan recorded “Send Back My Heart.” Trisha Yearwood recorded “Gimme the Good Stuff.” The Chicks recorded “Never Say Die.” Garth Brooks and George Jones recorded “Beer Run.” Sara Evans recorded “Real Fine Place to Start.” Since 2013, Ducas is enjoying a second act as an independent recording artist. In 2024, Pete Anderson produced his Long Way From Home album. Ducas said, ”I was able to connect even more with the roots of my earlier influences, ones I was so connected to when writing and recording my very first album for Capitol Records.”
Even today, if the musical roots and connections celebrated on George Ducas’ thirty-year-old debut album inspired a lipstick color, it would still be the sexiest drop-dead shade of red.
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