'I would be lost without it': Douglas finds self as growing singer-songwriter

Jun. 6—It was only a few years ago when Mitchell Douglas picked up a guitar and strummed his first chords.

Now, the Owensboro native has achieved success in his growing music career with a full-length debut album under his belt, and an abundance of live gigs taking him throughout the commonwealth and beyond.

But the world of music was never a foreign concept during Douglas' upbringing.

"The Douglas side of my family has always been super musical," Douglas, 22, said. "My great-grandfather Garvice ... was an excellent fiddle player, guitarist, banjo picker ... from Paducah; and then my grandfather, Charlie, was the minister of music in Owensboro at Third Baptist Church for (about) 30 years."

Douglas also attributes his father, David, having "the best ear for music" that helped Douglas have a fondness of different genres.

"Growing up, from a young age, he was always playing John Denver or 70s rock (like) Lynyrd Skynyrd all around the house," Douglas said. "... You always had this melting pot of Southern gospel music, folk music ....

"It (was) pretty hard not to grow up loving music in my family."

While Douglas attended Sutton Elementary School, he secured a spot in the choir "and never looked back."

"That's really where I got my (start in music)," he said.

By the time he arrived at Owensboro High School, Douglas said his music career began to "morph" after he auditioned for and was accepted into Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts his junior year with a prime focus on choir and vocal music.

During this time, however, Douglas began to discover new music interests.

"I started to get this ear for folk music and country music," he said.

In his senior year, Douglas received his first guitar for Christmas, despite having "no idea how to play it."

Eventually, Douglas became self-taught on the strings and the piano which helped him begin to learn cover songs and develop his own sound and tunes.

"High school was definitely a pinnacle of (using) that choir music background that I had as a kid and in my family," he said, "but then real bluegrass and country roots started to form."

While Douglas said learning the guitar came with some "growing pain," he was convinced he found his niche.

"I just had this need to conquer (the guitar). When I would hear a song, I wanted to play it right then and there," he said. "... I wanted to get right into it and write some of those songs I had and really put them onto a guitar."

After graduating from OHS in 2019, Douglas made his way out to Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights to study accounting. But he still kept the music flowing.

"When I went into college, I was just a kid from Owensboro, Kentucky, that had picked up the guitar and thought he was OK," he said, "and then when I got into college, ... I would be playing in my dorm and people would come over and be like: 'Man, that's pretty good.'

"It was something I would do at home behind-the-scenes to people actually liking songs (and) people wanting to listen to them."

Even though his freshman year was interrupted due to the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Douglas used his time back home to put music to the forefront.

"For several months just stuck at home, ... my dedication was to music," he said, "The writing, the guitar playing. I became addicted to the process."

Eventually, Douglas decided to share his talents more publicly and released his first single, "Time Flies," in February 2021 before putting out his 10-track debut album, "Easier Said Than Done," on Christmas Eve 2021 with the local recording studio Gray Sky Music.

Nowadays, Douglas is keen on live performances and finding his identity since making his solo on-stage debut during WBKR's Friday Night Fight talent competition at Friday After 5 in the summer of 2021.

"I'm trying to put my name out as much as I can," he said. "I've got a lot of summer gigs going on right now.

"I'm really finding where my direction is going to see people and see them smiling — to see that they're enjoying not only cover music, but my originals (resonating) with them ... almost (feels like) a high. ... I'm kind of addicted to it now."

Besides playing in areas such as Evansville and Owensboro, Douglas recently made his first appearance at The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville and has already been asked back.

Douglas said he has some unreleased music that he's also looking to take out to the Music City and release in the near future.

But for now, he's embracing every part of the journey as it comes.

"It makes me fulfilled — but that doesn't mean it's always easy. ... There's been blood, sweat and tears into the music — literally with the fingers bleeding from playing," Douglas laughed. "Every time I play, or write a song or even pick up a guitar — that is a job well done to me.

"That is what gives me life and without it I genuinely don't know what I'd do. I would be lost without it."

To listen to Douglas' music, search "Mitchell Douglas" on Spotify.