Doug Supernaw Emerges from Troubled Past with New Songs & New Album

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Doug Supernaw was one of the hottest names in country music in the early 90’s with strong traditional country hits such as “I Don’t Call Him Daddy,” “Reno,” and “Not Enough Hours in the Night.” Signed to BNA Records and with a big following in his native state of Texas and beyond, the performer and songwriter had a bright future in country music, earning a Song of the Year nomination for “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” from the ACM’s in 1996. But as sometimes will happen to country artists, Doug Supernaw began living out the stories of his songs and he dropped out of the fold, and hard.

By the late 90’s and into the 2000’s, Doug Supernaw had assembled a rap sheet that included arrests for public intoxication and driving while intoxicated, and things began to spiral from there. By the late 2000’s stories began to emerge about Supernaw’s mental state, including his theories about conspiracies against him.

2011 found Supernaw apparently in Bandera, TX, sleeping on top of a pool table in a local pub, and trying to trade discarded television sets for sandwiches. After numerous incidents in the Texas Hill Country town, Supernaw was arrested and put under evaluation. At this point fans of the singer had moved far beyond worries of when he may release new music, and were simply concerned for his well-being.

Now 56-years-old, and having been absent from the country music scene for nearly 20 years, Supernaw is attempting to emerge from his troubled past, taking it one day at a time, and trying to mount a comeback. In 2016 Supernaw was inducted into the CMA of Texas Hall Of Fame, and on April 1st, the once major country music star will release a Greatest Hits album of new versions of his older tunes, as well as two new songs, “Here’s My Heart” and “The Company I Keep.”

“Doug fell on some hard times for some very specific reasons,” says BJ Mezek, who is now working as Supernaw’s manager. “Once he hit his all-time low, he realized that there was two sides to his life, and he chose to get back to the more positive side. Through that, he started making his way, cleaning up, and realizing that it’s not going to happen overnight. He started doing some gigs in Texas near home, and then last July, a songwriter by the name of Jerry J. Thomas asked me, ‘Do you remember Doug Supernaw?’ I met with him, we sat and talked, he had a show in the Houston, TX area, and I can say with absolute assurity that he’s back. He wants to get back into it, and he’s pretty serious about it.”

The new Doug Supernaw album is nine Greatest Hits that were all re-recorded along with the two new songs. The re-recorded songs include:

  • “I Don’t Call Him Daddy”
  • “Long Tall Texan”
  • “Red and Rio Grande”
  • “Reno”
  • “What’ll You Do About Me”
  • “State Fair”
  • “Not Enough Hours in the Night”
  • “Fadin’ Renegade”
  • “She Never Looks Back”

“‘The Company I Keep’ is reflective, reminiscent of traditional country artists like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and along those lines,” says manager BJ Mezek. “Any fan of traditional country music is going to connect with the song. And ‘Long Tall Texan’ was a Beach Boys tune that they had Doug do for them on a compilation, but it’s never been on a Doug Supernaw album.”

Often artists will re-record their Greatest Hits to allow them to regain control of the songs when a record label owns the masters. Though this was part of the reasoning of re-recording the old songs, it wasn’t the only one. “Doug’s voice has deepened and it put a new, soulful sound to it all,” says BJ Mezek “There is enough different that you will notice the difference between the two. He also wanted to just re-connect with the material. But all the original stuff is out-of-print. BNA is no longer a record label anymore.”

The new Greatest Hits album is being released by the independent label B&G. Supernaw is also playing a CD release show on April 1st for the new record at the Texas Tumbleweed on Hwy 190 in Livingston, TX where he currently lives.

For fans of Doug Supernaw, his re-emergence in music is a new, bright chapter in the saga of a troubled country music star. If nothing else, his presence will remind listeners of a better time in country music when artists penned their troubles in songs, and used the music as a crutch through tough times.

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