ABOUT
Straight Shooter, a country band from Oklahoma was formed in July 1996 by Jim and Mike Duggins. They have played all over Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas at numerous clubs, festivals and events. They were selected this year to peform at the annual "OPENING NIGHT 2006" in Oklahoma City. For most of the past year you could see them on stage every Saturday night at the Cimarron the show club built by Doc Severenson.
The band consists of some pretty impressive musicians in their own right, Jim and Mike Duggins have been playing music since they were old enough to stand, and have deep musical roots, being, they are related to a great music star, Conway Twitty, Bud Kurtz has played with members of ZZ Top and other well known musicians in the Dallas Texas area, Mike Munhollon has played behind many well know country artists, Charlie Hutson has been a DJ for KEBC and has drummed for many bands through the years. Courtney "Lucky" Gilpin has won numerous competitions for her violin/fiddle playing and has performed with a number of national artists.
The band has a CD " Have you heard Straight Shooter ". The CD dubbed, new- age country, a cross between "The Eagles" and The Statler Brothers is on the charts in England, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Antarctica, The Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium to name a few. The band has been nominated for various awards in the year 2000, from being named artist of the week in The Netherlands and having cd of the week in The Netherlands to winning the online country music award for best country band/group of the year 2000 overseas to being named country band of the year 2000 by The Oklahoma Country Music Association, New Artist Radio, "Country Group of the year" for 2002, the band is no run of the mill ordinary band. Disc Jockeys who have heard the cd have been impressed but most play-lists re corporately controlled and this is a local band. One Norman Talk show host has been playing some cuts from the CD and Al Escbach plays the Beer Song from time to time but that's about it. . Just recently the band is being noticed in the US. They have been featured on Twang Town USA out of Nashville, Nitewolf Radio in Wisconsin and Music Spotlight in California. The cd has received rave reviews from Linda Fryer, BMI and songwriter, Downeast Records and Deborah Minters, Australia.
"It is amazing how hard it is to get something played if you are not with a big label." The songs are solid and there are more in the box waiting to be released. Cuts from the CD go over so well with live crowds that one local bar has said that Straight Shooter is the most played CD on the juke box.
It all got started when the band played a few cuts written by singer / songwriter Bud at a live gig last year Three different people the band had never met offered to pay for the studio time if they would record their music. One song " the Beer Song" a story about a group of guys who just came to drink beer is a particular favorite.
"We have done interviews with radio stations playing our stuff all over Europe but we are basically unknown here in the US. "The Oklahoma Country Music Association has asked them to be their house band too and want them to back up other talented Oklahoma bands. "Some of us have played with or behind some big name people so it should come as no surprise that we can play". At a recent concert in Noble for around
2000 people the band played 5 songs not even on their play list including one, they had never done before.
In the near future the band intends to keep gigging and they have been approached about doing a European tour. This WINTER they will be releasing their new cd "Shake Your Country". We would like to pick up some gigs as a warm up act for some bigger acts. That way we could get the exposure we need to attract a CD deal with a major label. In the meantime we are writing new stuff and staying busy. We all have careers during the day but our real love is music. "
The band consists of:
Jim Duggins has a degree in pharmacy from SWOSU. He plays lead guitar and sings back up
Mike Duggins is a medical technician and plays acoustic guitar, keyboards and sings lead
Charlie Hutson plays drums and percussion
Mike Munhollon is a marketing specialist in investments.and plays bass and sings back up
Bud Kurtz is a professor at OCU and sings lead and plays guitar and mandolin
Courtney "Lucky" Gilpin, Vocals, Fiddle and Violin
They have also pledged to donate some of the proceeds from their CD sales to neonatal care. One of the members of the band had twins in the neonatal unit at Baptist a few years ago. During the show he flips picks to kids in the crowd. Straight Shooter is always willing to pose for pictures or sign a copy of their CD. After each show they shake each other's hands and say goodnight after a rendition of Happy Trails. They are a new age country band looking for their big break but in the meantime they are a bunch of good old boys who care about people.
- Screen name:
- jduggins
- Member since:
- Nov 01 2005
- Active over 1 month ago
- Level of commitment:
- Committed
- Years together:
- 10
- Age:
- years
Influences
Beatles, BB King, Eagles, Van Halen
Members Of Band
Bud Kurtz, Jim Duggins, Mike Duggins, Courtney Gilpin, Charlie Hutson, Mike Munhollon
EQUIPMENT
Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica, Drums, Violin/Fiddle, mandolin
