Doug Schmude hits the open road with his adventurous new single and video On The Run — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Voiced in the California troubadour’s dusty tones, delivered with an easygoing charm and decorated with breezy acoustic guitar fingerpicking, the sweetly sincere folk number has all the simple grace and beauty of watching the clouds roll by as you head for the horizon on the interstate. The enticing tale of hitting the highway with no direction in mind is the latest cut from the singer-songwriter’s recent EP One Shy Of A Six Pack.
Like all good songs, there’s some truth behind it. “My kids are approaching college age, and my wife and I keep talking about buying a Sprinter van,” he reveals. “I’m not sure if it will happen, but this tune always takes me to that life, regardless.”
Schmude (it rhymes with moody) comes by his wanderlust honestly. A string of license plates from the likes of Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Colorado, Arizona and California hang above the guitars in his recording studio. A firm believer in the principle that life is as much about what happens as where you’re standing when it does, Doug’s music reflects the perspective that living in eight states imparts upon a person. His songs contain characters from all walks of life and stories from ever-changing viewpoints.
Born in Baton Rouge, Schmude honed his songwriting in the late 1990s while performing around Boulder. In 2000 he relocated to Nashville, where he was nominated for several awards with blues duo Hot Foot Delta. Now in Southern California, he makes music littered with souvenirs of the places he has lived and seen. “Finding my voice both literally and figuratively has been a journey, for sure,” he says.
One Shy of a Six Pack mixes country, folk, rock and blues into a modern Americana sound for fans of Jason Isbell, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp and Steve Earle. Doug plays the majority of the acoustic and electric guitars, bass, mandolin, lap steel guitar and dobro.
Check out On The Run above, sample One Shy Of A Six Pack below, and kick back with Doug Schmude at his website, Facebook and Instagram.
