Uncommon Ground ^ Doug Burr

Doug Burr
After 12 years of developing his songwriting in his bedroom, open mikes and coffeehouses, Doug Burr has been gigging heavily on the Dallas music scene since 2000, fronting the up-and-coming roots rock band, The Lonelies, and playing solo as well.

Burr's song "Dark as the Night" took home the blue ribbon for the Americana/Roots/AAA category of the 2003 International Songwriting Competition. His song "Carolina" won first place in the national Mark Heard songwriting contest sponsored by Silent Planet Records in summer 2002. Burr was nominated for best acoustic/folk act by the 2004 & 2005 Dallas Observer Music Awards, and has been featured on Country Music Television’s New Voices No Cover page on CMT.com.

Also, the Lonelies have received nominations from the Dallas Observer Music Awards and the Rockzilla.net Music Awards. Burr caught the attention of the creators of Paste Magazine with his first full-length record, The Sickle & the Sheaves, being picked up for online distribution. He's also been included on several Americana compilations.

Released in 2003 and written entirely by Burr, The Sickle & the Sheaves was produced by Steven Collins, of the band Deadman (whose resume includes recording with Mark Howard of Daniel Lanois, U2 and Willie Nelson notoriety), with some mastering work by Malcolm Burn (whose resume includes working with Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois).

"A good friend of mine, in the death-throes of cancer, requested me to sing 'Meet You in the Sunrise' at his funeral, and I realized I needed to record that song," Burr says. "All my Southern Protestant heritage was there, just waiting to get out."

Burr has opened for Slaid Cleaves, Wayne "the Train" Hancock, Bill Mallonee (formerly of the Vigilantes of Love), Darden Smith, Marshall Crenshaw, Crooked Fingers, Brent Best from Slobberbone, Deadman and the Hangdogs. His influences include Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Will Oldham, Johnny Cash and Neil Young.