George Ducas

A country artist who blends the snap of the classic Bakersfield sound with the soul of the Texas singer-songwriter community and adds a dash of pop polish for flavor, George Ducas has enjoyed success as a performer and songwriter since his career took off in the 1990s. While the atmospheric romanticism of "Lipstick Promises" (from his self-titled 1995 debut album) would become his signature, the blend of hard country and Nashville sophistication on 1997's Where I Stand offered a more detailed picture of his talent. After focusing on his career as a songwriter through much of the 2000s, he returned to the studio with a harder-edged, guitar-driven sound on 2013's 4340, and the 2024 single "Tears Fallin' Down" confirmed that his taste for Texas-style country hadn't faded away. George Ducas was born in Galveston, Texas, and spent his early years in Texas City, where his father was a chemical engineer, and his mother was a poet. Ducas's parents split up when he was five, and he and his mother relocated to San Diego, California. His mother gave him his first guitar when he was nine, and a year later he moved to Houston, where he lived with his father and stepmother. In high school, Ducas began writing songs, though most were penned for his girlfriends, and he didn't perform in public. After graduating from high school, Ducas left Texas for Nashville, where he studied economics at Vanderbilt University. He briefly pursued a career in banking before he decided music was his true calling, and he moved back to Nashville, where he played local clubs and worked on his songwriting. He was introduced to Radney Foster, and they began collaborating on songs; one of the tunes they wrote together, "Just Call Me Lonesome," hit the country Top Ten in 1992. In 1994, Ducas signed a deal with Liberty Records, and his debut album, George Ducas, was released in September of that year. The first single from the LP, "Teardrops," cracked the Country Singles charts, peaking at number 38, and the follow-up, "Lipstick Promises," fared even better, rising to number nine as well as gaining extensive play as a video. (Two more tracks from the album charted as country singles, "Hello Cruel World" and "Kisses Don't Lie.") After EMI reorganized the Liberty label, Ducas was moved to Capitol Records, and as he worked on fresh material, he struck up a friendship with one of his early influences, Buck Owens, who offered him advice and would closely follow the younger artist's career. Ducas' sophomore album, Where I Stand, appeared in January 1997; Vince Gill made a guest appearance on the song "Every Time She Passes By," and as he toured in support, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ol' Opry. Ducas stepped away from the recording studio, but he continued to tour regularly, and enjoyed success as a songwriter. One of his tunes, "Beer Run (B Double E Double Are You In?)," was recorded as a duet by Garth Brooks and George Jones, and received a Grammy nomination, while Tricia Yearwood, the Chicks, Eli Young, and the Randy Rogers Band also cut Ducas' songs. "A Real Fine Place to Start," written by Ducas and Radney Foster, became a number one hit for Sara Evans in 2005, and Evans showed her appreciation by bringing Ducas along as her opening act for her 2007 tour. In 2013, Ducas rebooted his recording career, launching his own Loud Ranch Records label with the album 4340, which boasted stronger guitars and a tougher rock & roll undercurrent. He toured extensively in support, especially in the Southwest, and even booked shows in Japan; the tracks "Breakin’ Stuff" and "CowTown" received extensive airplay in Texas. After issuing a handful of digital singles, Ducas' fourth album, Yellow Rose Motel, was released by Loud Ranch on 2019 and hit the Americana charts in the United Kingdom and Australia, while his video for the song "Eastwood" was picked up for airplay on the cable channel CMT, topping their chart for three weeks. In 2020, Ducas celebrated the 25th anniversary of his biggest hit by recording and releasing a new version of "Lipstick Promises," and as he worked on his fifth album, he offered fans a preview with the 2023 single "Tears Fallin' Down."
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