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"Days up and down they come/Like rain on a conga drum/Forget most remember some/And dont turn none aw"
Douglas Waterman was born and raised in Mobile, Ala., the historic Gulf Coast city that is home to Mardi Gras and also produced quite possibly his favorite singer/songwriter, Jimmy Buffett. He grew up listening to the great Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songwriters with his dad, who whistled these melodies day in and day out, leaving a lifelong musical impression. Waterman began writing songs on guitar at age 14 but didn’t envision professional plans for his music until much later down the road. In addition to soaking up the popular music of the day, he fell in love with the Beatles, the Doors, the Dead, Garth, Keith Whitley, Uncle Tupelo, Widespread Panic, Robert Earl Keen, Harry Connick Jr., Steve Earle, Roger Miller, Sinatra, Strait, and everything else unraveled from there. During his senior year of college, he played and sang in the short-lived classic rock cover band Three-Legged Dog. After finishing school with an English degree from Sewanee (Univ. of the South), located atop Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau, Waterman aimed to become a label A&R;guy (he’s glad it didn’t work out) and headed to Nashville, where his sister Kemp was working as a songplugger at the time. She kindly introduced him to some music industry folks. He interned for a stint at Mercury & Lost Highway Records, and in late 2002 began selling advertising and writing for American Songwriter magazine—and freelancing for other publications like Blues Revue, Relix, RollingStone.com and Mojo. In 2004 Waterman and two business partners purchased then-20-year-old American Songwriter, where he served as Editor-in-Chief until 2008 and remains a partner today. In 2004 he began writing songs more regularly, co-writing a lot with aspiring artist and fellow Mobilian Walker Hayes (Capitol Records). Waterman edited a book in 2006 compiled of 100 songwriter interviews called SONG: The World’s Best Songwriters on Creating the Music That Moves Us (Writer’s Digest Books), Preface by Rodney Crowell, featuring Ray Charles, Kenny Chesney, Tom Petty, Burt Bacharach, Sheryl Crow, Merle Haggard and more. When offered the opportunity to become a Music Row staff songwriter, Waterman signed on with Warner-Chappell (a division of Warner Music Group) in October 2010. He says he’s blessed, grateful and a bit bewildered to be on the same publishing roster as Tin Pan legends like George & Ira Gershwin, Harry Warren and Noel Coward. For the record, the two artists he’d most like to record his songs are Jimmy Buffett and George Strait.
professional
Country, Pop, Singer/Songwriter
Warner-Chappell Music, major publishing company
ASCAP
acoustic guitar / electric guitar / harmonica / piano
no particular order...ROGER MILLER, ALABAMA, SAM COOKE, JIM MORRISON, TOWNES VAN ZANDT, DION DIMUCCI, DEAN DILLON, GEORGE STRAIT, JESSE WINCHESTER, JAMES MERCER, THE BEATLES, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, BRUCE ROBISON, TONY JOE WHITE, HUGH PRESTWOOD, JERRY GARCIA, ROBERT HUNTER, LEONARD COHEN, ELLIS PAUL, ROBBIE ROBERTSON, MAC MCANALLY, JJ CALE, ROBERT EARL KEEN, JR., LOWELL GEORGE, RICHARD MARX, JOE SOUTH, JIMMY BUFFETT, WILL JENNINGS, JIMMIE RODGERS, RODNEY CROWELL, WYNN STEWART, JACKSON BROWNE, JOHNNY MERCER, CAT STEVENS, RANDY BOUDREAUX, GRAYSON CAPPS, BOBBY BRADDOCK, MATRACA BERG, DAVE MATTHEWS, LORI MCKENNA, HARRY NILSSON, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, ANDERS OSBORNE, TONY LANE, MERLE HAGGARD, BILLY JOEL, JOHN PRINE, BOB DYLAN, KEITH WHITLEY, MACK, VICKERY, EARL THOMAS CONLEY, HANK COCHRAN, RL CASTLEMAN, DAN SEALS, KURT WEILL, THE CONNELLS, GORDON LIGHTFOOT, FRANK SINATRA, PAUL OVERSTREET, HANK WILLIAMS, DENNIS LINDE, RANDY NEWMAN, KEVN KINNEY, WILLIE NELSON, GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN, MICKEY NEWBURY, NICK LOWE, JIM CROCE, RADNEY FOSTER, TODD SHAFFER, DON WILLIAMS, AMOS LEE, TOM T. HALL, JIM CROCE, EDDIE RABBITT, ADAM SCHLEISINGER, MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT, ROBERT EARL KEEN, LARRY JON WILSON, GUY CLARK, STEVE BOGARD, ART ALEXIS, BOBBY BARE, ALEX HARVEY, BOB MCDILL, LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III, STEVE EARLE, RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, WILL KIMBROUGH, WAYLAND HOLYFIELD, MICHAEL PENN, SCOTT JOPLIN, TODD SNIDER, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, RON SEXSMITH, DAVID ALLEN COE
writing songs, pitching songs
When I have time
I Also Write:
by myself
with others
for myself
for others
I Prefer To Write:
lyrics
melody
music