Interview: Doug Seegers. No Longer Homeless

Agreeing to appear in a documentary about Nashville has turned Doug Seegers life upside down.

Having spent time living on the streets, the 62 year old musician is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about upcoming talents of the Country scene.

With a huge following in Sweden, he is currently piecing together plans for some UK shows to support the release of his début album Going Down To The River.

It's been a very exciting period for you. Has it all sunk in?

It was very very nice for me. It is wonderful. It is a major blessing in my life, sir.

Are a Country 'n Western fan?

I am. I have always been. I am loving that it is becoming a bigger sound again in the UK.

Did you ever dream that this might be a twist your life would take?

Did I dream about it? Of course. You can have a lot of dreams that never come true, right? So, I mean, it's been a dream but it was something I put in God's hands and if that was what he wanted then it
would happen. If he didn't want it, then it wouldn't happen. It has happened.

It must seem strange to you, a Country singer getting his big break in Sweden?

I started in Nashville but the people from Sweden came to Nashville to film a documentary on street musicians.

A friend of mine who works in a food pantry walked up to me while I was getting some free food. I was homeless then.

Just a couple of years ago I was living under a bridge.

I went down to the pantry on Saturday afternoon and she walked up to me and asked if I would speak to the people making the documentary. I said, 'sure, I'd love to do that.'

I walked outside and walked up to the crowd up people there, they all like they were not from Nashville but they were dressed pretty nicely. They had cameras and microphones and I introduced myself.

It was Jill Johnson who was holding the microphone. She is as big as Dolly Parton in Sweden. I didn't know that at the time. I didn't know anybody. I just figured it was an opportunity to sing my song and get a response.

She loved the song and asked if she could record it. She came back a day or two later and took me to a studio. She had hired all these studio musicians to record the song and put it in her documentary movie.

She took it back home and they aired the documentary and suddenly the song shoots to number 1 on iTunes. It was God's work. I keep telling everyone, but I am not sure they are believing me.

Your whole life has changed in such a short space of time...

It is unbelievable. At the age 62, what's up with that?

How long were you homeless?

On and off for a long time. I am back in the year 1969 and I am getting ready to my last year in High School and my Mum was begging me to graduate and not embarrass the family or nothing like that, so I
said, 'alright Mom, I will graduate just for you.'

I love my Mom. So I graduated 1969 and the next day I am down in Lower Side Manhattan living in an abandoned basement playing my guitar on the street for dinner.

That's the start of homelessness there. Out of high school and into the land of homelessness. When you are 18 year old, the furthest thing from your mind is where you are going to sleep that night. You are thinking about how you are going to hitchhike to next rock festival and dropping some LSD!

Did you always maintain contact with your family?

My Dad walked out when I was 8 years old.

My Mom, well, she didn't trust my Dad. My Dad was a musician, he had groupies and all that crap.

In fact, he left my Mom and went off with a groupie. He walked out of my life when I was 8 years old.

I have grown up playing Country music and it has always been my love. It was hard though when my Dad walked out and my Mom had to raise us all by herself.

My Mom decided to raise me to never consider music as a serious move due to what my Dad did to her.

How did you start to piece together the album?

I had to start by deciding what kind of material to include. I have been writing since I was 18 years old and I have not written a lot of songs, but I have been writing for quite a while. I am ever learnt anything about songwriting other than there are no rules.

Everyone has their own way. For me, you've got to feel it.

The one rule I put on myself, is if I don't feel it then it can't work. Music is therapy. I want to show the world that I am hurting, or that I am happy or that I am blessed.

You worked with Emmlyou Harris and your old friend Buddy Miler on the record. Might you consider recording with Jill Johnson at some stage?

Funny you should mention that as I had lunch with her a few days ago to talk about doing a record together.

We are in the process of working on that right now. We are currently screening songs to sing
together. That's really exciting for me right now. Do you know what she told me? She said, 'I've never really done any hardcore country stuff, Doug. With you I can get the opportunity to do something I have always wanted to do.'

To me, that is like 'God, can it get any better than that?'