Local musician Doug Walters is still heating up the stage
by Lorne Chambers | editor
Local singer/songerwriter Doug Walters claims that he was a late bloomer when it came to playing the guitar. He didn’t start playing until his mid-20s, but he’s been more than making up for lost time. For the better part of the last three decades Walters has been a very visible part of the local music scene. He first became noticed as the blistering guitarist in the seminal funk band The Secrets in the late 1990s and gigged relentlessly with the band until the early 2000s when he decided to strike out on his own. He has dabbled with other projects, like the hard-driving rock band Torture Town to the more light-hearted duo The Fairy God Muthas. These days, Walter’s finds himself more often than not, with an acoustic guitar in his hand, playing stripped down tunes that seem to be more of a soundtrack for this stage of his musical journey.
“I think it’s important to always be open and always try to keep learning and growing. But for me, that’s never really been something I had to make myself do. It just comes naturally,” says Walters, who is set to return to Folly Beach this month when he plays a solo show at Planet Follywood on Saturday, Jan. 14. “I just love so many different types of music. Actually, I’m into many different kinds of art, and it’s the same with all forms and mediums. I love hard rockin’ stuff, for example. But then I’ll naturally kind of want to balance that out with something mellow. I love every color of the rainbow equally. I’d get bored and uninspired if I just used one. They all move me very much in different ways, so it really keeps things interesting and exciting to be able to write and play with different styles. And I don’t ever burn out on anything thanks to the balance.”
Walters takes a philosophical view to his disparate musical endeavors. He says that when it comes to creativity, artists are an amalgamation of all they’ve absorbed and can take in.
“Sometimes it’s easy to see or hear those influences and other times it might be subtle, maybe even unconscious,” he says. “But whenever you hear a musician or songwriter, you are hearing everyone he or she has ever dug. It’s in the DNA, it’ll be in the art too. I honestly feel like I’ve gotten something from everyone and everything I’ve ever connected with, musically or otherwise. Even nature has that effect on me. Everything does. I’ve gathered and collected little pieces of inspiration my whole life. And they come out in little ways all the time.”
His most recent studio album, entitled World on Fire, was written and recorded during the pandemic and Walters says it’s probably his most personal album to date.
“I wrote it during the quarantine, which was an amazing time for me, ironically. I felt like I grew a lot at that time, maybe more than I ever have. In many different ways. I feel like my writing reached a new level that was quite surprising to me. Or maybe I should say the muse was more generous with me than she’d ever been. I truly think it was a reward for me deciding to turn my life completely around. The more I walked into the light and learned to trust it, the more bountiful the rewards became,” he says. “That’s probably the happiest and most free I’ve ever felt. So I have a very special affinity for World On Fire. Plus I think it’s the most honest music I’ve ever made. I’m very proud of that record.”
As for what 2023 will hold, Walters isn’t exactly sure, other than he knows that he will continue to make and play music and find inspiration in everyone and everything he encounters in the new year.
“I’ve recorded a lot of music in 2022. Not sure what I’ll do with it. I’m less driven to put out albums right now. Sometimes just writing and recording is satisfying enough,” he says. “I can always play new songs at gigs.”
Expect to hear some of those new songs when he plays Planet Follywood this month. Walters says it is one of his favorite places to play.
“Follywood has been very good to me. I feel very appreciated and well received there. That’s inspiring,” he says. “I feel like Charleston, and especially Folly Beach, is one of the coolest, most unique and beautiful places with the coolest, most interesting, creative, talented, colorful people in the world. We are so blessed. I feel like I’m living in a dream. I know that sounds goofy but it’s true. And I don’t take any of it for granted. I love Planet Follywood and I feel their love for me. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Doug Walters will play Saturday, Jan. 14 at Planet Follywood, located at 32 Center St. For more information, call (843) 588-7380 or visit www.planetfollywood.com.
