Doug Hoekstra

Guitarist, singer/songwriter Doug Hoekstra, who grew up in Chicago, started playing in garage bands as a teenager. Between 1989 and 1991, he was a member of the Chicago-based group Bucket No. 6. The band released the CD High on the Hog in 1991. Hoekstra recollects that Bucket No. 6 was an alt-country band before there was such a term, inspired by Graham Parsons, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams. The members of Bucket No. 6 moved to Austin in 1991, where they lasted for about a year before breaking up. Hoekstra returned to Chicago and began to contemplate a solo career. In 1994, Hoekstra released When the Tubes Begin to Glow, his first solo effort. He also relocated to Nashville in 1994, citing a desire for a change of scenery. "I didn't want to repeat myself," Hoekstra says. "I didn't want to get into the cycle of going back to the same venues and getting into the same comfortable situation as before. And Nashville's a good town for a songwriter. There are a lot of musicians there who are used to working with other people and have a professional attitude about things. Everyone in Nashville has already done their band thing, so most of the musicians are open to working with different kinds of music."

Hoekstra's second album, Rickety Stairs, arrived in 1996. This record earned a Nashville Music Award nomination for Best Folk Album. Make Me Believe, his third release, came in 1999. With this album, Hoekstra picked up a European distributor in the U.K. label Round Tower. Hoekstra's latest record, Around the Margins, arrived in March 2001 on Inbetweens, a label based in Holland that also distributes in the U.S. The remainder of 2001 found him busy with another two releases (one live, and another on Inbetweens) and an extensive tour of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Netherlands during October and November. Hoekstra then sequestered himself in his home studio where, along with George Marinelli, he worked on Waiting, his 2003 release for Georgia based Paste Records.