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Even though Tucson piano player/singer/songwriter Duncan Stitt (his real name) snagged the 1999 Tucson Tammies keyboardist of the year honor, he remains a truly humble man. Just ask him. No wait, he's busy right now. Try later. This tense, laid back, long and lanky fifty-two year old has been toughing it out in the honkytonks of the Southwest since 1977. He's opened for countless C&W super stars, including Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, Emmy Lou Harris, and some Guy in a hat, and he's played in backup bands for Bo Diddley (one chord for an hour and a half), among others.

Sort of an old hippie trapped in a Stetson, Duncan's songwriting reflects his warped but rosy view of the world. Compositions like: 'I Haven't Hit Rock Bottom But I'm Still Diggin', 'Don't the Bad Girls Look Good in White', and 'Has Been That Never Was' celebrate his blue collar roots and showcase his self-effacing sense of humor and eye for detail, as well as his distinctive flair for melody and his tasty piano playing, not to mention that homemade camper shell on the back of his old pickup. Duncan has two CD's almost ready for imminent release, and before too long they'll probably be out, most likely, sooner or later. One is all original contemporary Country Rock, the other more of a James Taylor meets Little Feat and says 'whassup?' kind of thing.

His latest CD, No Dog Like an Old Dog, features a strange mixture of Folk-HipHop and Blues, with the amazing rhythm section of Ralph Gilmore on drums and Steve Grams on bass. 'Don't Turn Back (you look so good from behind)' was a big hit at this years TKMA Folk Festival, and the CD version, with just Duncan and his piano, proves that you don't need no stinking drummer to get the music rocking. Trying to juggle projects in his home studio with numerous gigs and important phone calls from people like 'some guy who thinks he might know this chick who delivers pizza to Geffen Records in Burbank' and 'this fellow who's sister used to Date Garth Brook's bus driver' keeps him pretty darn busy, and his rinky dink part time day job takes up the rest of the slack. Why some days, he doesn't even have time to uh, let's see,... ship, (he takes care of the shipping duties at Boney Brother's Records, but since nobody buys records anymore, it's not a big enough job to have to hire outside help) but he still manages to write at least fifteen or a hundred or a couple of songs a year. He's released four solo albums of original material on his own label, to a chorus of critical acclaim, and he was the major writer on the Bareback album with the Saddle City Band in the 80's. (And they're still thanking him.) In the 90's, during his high decibel stint with the Blue Lizards, Tucson's premier Motown party band, he produced their Blue Lizard Christmas tape, and bought a whole bunch of really ugly shirts.

Duncan is a longtime member of the Arizona Songwriter's Association and is a featured performer at the occasional showcase, festival, or 'Be In', most recently with Chris Wall and Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Rialto Theater in Tucson. Songwriting credits include a Mickey Gilley cut that Duncan co-wrote back in the mid eighties; 'The Right Side of the Wrong Bed'. Too bad the label didn't have enough sense to release it as a single. Idiots! Duncan forges ahead through the fog (he grew up on the California coast), searching for the next hookline, hunting down the melodies of life and the rhythms of love, or a good turkey sandwich. And if you're lucky, and you happen to poke your head out the door in time for another glorious Arizona sunset, you just might hear an old upright piano, way way way off in the distance, tinkling out a tune that you've never heard before, but you think maybe you might possibly want to hear again, as long as the TV's still broken.