Duncan Stitt - Musician Extraordinaire
|
From the coast of California, to a cabin in the woods in north. Idaho, to a cabover camper in a driveway in Tucson, it's been a long, but rewarding trip.. Duncan got an early start in music - piano lessons at age 5, then guitar, then harmonica - but his full time music career didn't begin until 1977, playing piano with The Jacks at the Road To Ruin, a C&W bar on Tucson’s east side.
He produced and recorded his first solo album of all original material in 1979. A multi-year stint with the Saddle City Band followed. The band’s first album. Bareback, featured five of Duncan’s originals, and a song he co-wrote with locals Fred Knipe and Steve Chandler was recorded by Mickey Gilley, famed Nashville piano player during the Urban Cowboy era. |
When Tucson's country scene succumbed to C&W discos, Duncan branched out into other music styles, including Motown with the Blue Lizards; esoteric blues-rock-R&B-soul with the the Liz Fletcher Group (featuring Heather Hardy); and ragtime, with a trio called the Doo Dah Dudes, with Stefan George on banjo and Steve Grams on stand up bass.
During the mid-90’s, a stint as a one-man-band solo artist at the Sheraton El Conquistador Last Territory Steakhouse earned him zero credibility with the locals, but it did pay the bills. When that gig died a merciful death, Duncan hooked up with Kevin Pakulis, both in the studio and on the gig trail, and much prosperity ensued, including being voted 1999 Keyboardist of the year for the Tucson Weekly Tammie Awards.
Several boutique rock and roll bands followed; the Sonic Boomers, fronted by longtime Tucson folkie Chris Minker, and the Leisure Brothers, with legendary local pickers Eric Mellon and Richie Cavanaugh on guitars, Larry Lerma on bass and Ralph Gilmore on drums.
Recent career highlights include the Old Pueblo Radio Show with Dave Fitzsimmons, where Duncan played piano and wrote the theme song, and as music director and piano player for the Last Waltz 50th Anniversary Show at the Fox Theater in 2016. Lately, he’s been working with the John Coinman Band, Clear Country, and Paul Green and Midnight Blue.
Duncan has recorded literally dozens of CD projects for local artists, working as producer, engineer, and keyboard player at A Writer’s Room, his state-of-the art budget recording studio. He has released nine solo CD’s of original music, with material for more if “someday” ever comes.
www.AWritersRoomRecording.com
During the mid-90’s, a stint as a one-man-band solo artist at the Sheraton El Conquistador Last Territory Steakhouse earned him zero credibility with the locals, but it did pay the bills. When that gig died a merciful death, Duncan hooked up with Kevin Pakulis, both in the studio and on the gig trail, and much prosperity ensued, including being voted 1999 Keyboardist of the year for the Tucson Weekly Tammie Awards.
Several boutique rock and roll bands followed; the Sonic Boomers, fronted by longtime Tucson folkie Chris Minker, and the Leisure Brothers, with legendary local pickers Eric Mellon and Richie Cavanaugh on guitars, Larry Lerma on bass and Ralph Gilmore on drums.
Recent career highlights include the Old Pueblo Radio Show with Dave Fitzsimmons, where Duncan played piano and wrote the theme song, and as music director and piano player for the Last Waltz 50th Anniversary Show at the Fox Theater in 2016. Lately, he’s been working with the John Coinman Band, Clear Country, and Paul Green and Midnight Blue.
Duncan has recorded literally dozens of CD projects for local artists, working as producer, engineer, and keyboard player at A Writer’s Room, his state-of-the art budget recording studio. He has released nine solo CD’s of original music, with material for more if “someday” ever comes.
www.AWritersRoomRecording.com