Bio

Larry Dougher is in touch with all of the things that make the blues matter. He plays with passion, intensity, subtlety, and a twisted sense of humor, delivered with the fearlessness of a young Buddy Guy — Monster Mike Welch

With passion and reckless abandonment, Larry’s award-winning guitar playing and singing never fails to leave a crowd exhilarated and amazed. It is because of his live performances that Larry has gained a reputation among his fans, fellow musicians, and critics as a rising star on the blues horizon.

Following up on his bands award-winning debut album "Let Me Stay", Larry is venturing out even deeper into the blues idiom by performing solo acoustic shows. These intimate performances allow him to reach deep into his bag and pull out classic Delta, Piedmont, Folk, and County Blues, as well as a hefty helping of his own original songs.

Not satisfied to merely pay tribute to his heroes and be an archivist to a bygone era, Larry infuses the blues with his own intensity, fearlessness, and songwriting chops. "I'll write songs about different observations or experiences, but the blues is always my home base," Larry explains. "The common link musically between Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Blind Blake, etc. is one thing - Total Honesty. So, that is what I strive for whether I'm playing slide in Open-A covering Terraplane Blues or writing a bouncy folk/pop song."

Larry Dougher began playing guitar at the age of 15 and although self-taught he turned to such “teachers” as Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and many others. You can hear all these and many more influences every time Larry picks up a guitar. Larry didn’t have to wait long for recognition of his guitar expertise as he was selected to be in the top 5 of over 100 competitors in the 1996 D’Addario National Electric Blues Guitar Competition, after only playing guitar for a year! Four years later his blues band was opening for the J. Geils Band at the 2000 Laconia Bike Rally. Larry has shared the stage with such musicians as Duke Robillard, Jeff Toler of the Allman Brothers, Monster Mike Welch, Lydia Warren, Luther “Guitar Jr.“ Johnson, and Vermont's own Dave Keller and Nobby Reed.

Hundreds of shows and thousands of miles later, Larry is excited to start showing audiences what an able and exciting performer can do with just a voice and a guitar. "These guys, long gone now, were Unplugged before it was cool but when it was necessary," says the 31-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist. "I can't wait to get out there and remind people where it all came from."

The Larry Dougher Band, a power trio of guitar, bass and drums produced a blues CD, “Let Me Stay,” that rocks. So adept is Dougher on guitar that the music he writes and sings could turn any local club into a Vermont version of a smoky Chicago Blues club (sans the smoke) — Times Argus