Dougout

Bio:

doug out & the pinchhitters "acoustic groove" Pinchhiters are sophisticated fun, non-trendy music for mind, body and soul pinch-hit..(')pinch 'hit.. vb 1 :to bat in the place of another player esp. when a hit is particularly needed. 2 :to act or serve in place of another ~ pinch hit n ~ pinch hitter n doug out and the PINCHHITTERS is the brain child of engineer, producer and musician Doug Ford, known to many of his friends as just "doogi"... The 1st incarnation of the group was formed in 1996 under the leadership of Ford with his two closest friends and musical colaberaters, Randi Carwell and the late Robert (BUCCI) Maye. doug out and the PINCHHITTERS was an experimental vehical for Ford, Carwell and Maye to explore and combine their eclectic taste and musical styles into something that was truely different. And, as the pinch hitter definition illustrates, they were willing to use who ever and what ever was needed to create the sound they were looking for, "the HIT". Their 1st album, "Life Is Good", required only them and special vocal performances by Ford's (then) 8 year old son, Adam and 5 year old daughter Meghan on the song, "Children" and Carwells vocal group, Peace of Truth on the song, "Grace". Ford provided the songs, the studio, guitars, lead vocals and his programming and engineering experince. Randi offered lyrics, lead and backing vocals as well as her unique talent for vocal harmonic arrangement. And, Bucci brought the rhythmic foundation on drums, synth and bass guitar as well as soulful lead and backing vocals. The result was a fusion of rock, jazz and ragge with pop and r&b sincablities.... doug out and the PINCHHITTERS never toured and never intended to at the time. In 1996 Ford became chief engineer for the, nationally syndicated, Myriad Gospel Countdown (radio program). Randi had her hands full producing her group, Peace of Truth and rasing her two sons, Cory and Brandon. Bucci was touring with the Temptations as bassist and musical director... The indie project was well recieved by all who were exposed to it but record company executives of the time (who actually liked the project) had no idea what to do with it... accept; call it "Altrenative"(which in 1996 was discriptive of something that was NOT doug out and the PINCHHITTERS)... Ford, Carwell and Maye continued to work together as a production team on various gospel, r&b and animation projects for clients until Bucci's death in 2003... That was around the time Ford started to hear the Pinchhitters a different way... One of the last projects Ford and Maye worked on together was gospel artist, Torie Hill's debut album; "See About Me"... The project started in 1999 was not completed until 2004. The release of the project was to be accompanied by a music video and a big concert. Ford produced the video, "Let Go - Let God", in time for the release party in May of 2004... But without Bucci, how was he to pull off the concert? Bucci composed and performed the music for 3 of the songs on the album... including the title track... The new direction for the Pinchhitters came when Ford was writing charts for a new "pinch hitting" keyboard player (who never came to be). Torie had 2 smaller promotional performaces to play before the big June concert. She was to be accompanied by Ford on acoustic guitar, Alex Troughton on percussion and the keyboard player that they never found... So, Ford had to play the keyboard parts on guitar... it worked... and it was well recieved by those audiences... Less than a month before the concert Ford decided to promote it as "unplugged".... to make that work Ford's acoustic guitar was joined by Alex Troughton on drums, and Jeff Drew played upright bass to finish out a three piece rhythm section. With transcribing help from Beu Berry, Ford turned the electric guitar parts he recorded on the album in to violin and viola charts which were performed by Ford's daughter, Meghan and her friends Andrea and Courtney... Randi and her vocal group, Peace Of Truth (who sang backing vocals on the album), were not avalible for the June concert. So Ford turned to his long time friend, Clarence Albright and asked if he could "pinch" three vocalist from his gospel group, Message... The concert, held at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame / Carver Theater in Birmingham on June 13th 2004, was a major success. The sound was both funky and beautiful at the same time. Ford was then hooked on this oraganic sound... in 2005, upright bassist, Michael Ford, (who passed in Feb. of 09) joined to "pinch hit" for Jeff Drew, who was touring with a stage play... Later that year Michael Ford moved to Kentucky and was "Pinch hitted" for by another long time friend of Doug Ford, Lenard Todd. Todd opened a new dimension in the "Pinchhitter sound"... Todd was not an upright bassist by did agree to play acoustic bass... His electric style traslated well into the acoustic sound... and transporting the acoustic bass to a gig proved much easier than hauling around the big upright bass... When Todd moved to Alburn, Ford called on his friend of over 30 years to "pinch in", Tony Pearson. Pearson is a Berkley trained musican who had resently moved back to Alabama from Israil... Ford and Pearson played together in high school and stayed in touch over the years. In resent years Ford and Pearson have colaberated on studio projects with Randi Carwell. At a time when Ford needed some one he could count on... he knew Tony would not let him down... Pearson not only added his steel string acoustic to the "Pinchhiter mix", he brought with him "premo' drummer, Michael Jenkins and bassist Emery Kidd; an ASFA graduate who could switch between 5 string acoustic and 4 string upright bass... In 2006 Randi Carwell returned to the current Pinchhitter line up to add her voice to the mix... In 2008 Ford's daugher, Meghan Ford, rejoins the Pinchhitter lineup on violin... Also in 2008 long time friend Kerwin Shepard blessed the Pinchhitters with bass, guitar and keys before he passed in March of 2009... We miss Kerwin, Michael And Bucci very much... but we still feel them in the music.... doug out is still finding new and talented pinchhitters to work with... but we are still looking a new bassist... (God knows we have had and lost some great ones)...

Member Since:

July 19, 2009

Members:

doug out~ guitars, Meghan Ford~ violin, Ray Robinson~ drums

Influences:

Sounds Like:

font face="Verdana" size="1" color="999999">
Teach Me How To Dougie

Cali Swag District (follow @caliswagdstrct) | MySpace Music Videos..

Record Label:

Zimmhata