THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
DOUG SUPERNAW, who plays in Portsmouth Thursday, hopes to leave Hampton Roads happy and healthy this time. That wasn't the case a few years ago, when he sang - and dined - at a club that will remain anonymous.
``I got food poisoning,'' he said. ``The next night in Richmond they picked me up off the hotel floor. I had to cancel the show.''
The Supernaw black cloud had struck again. In the past few years, he's suffered a broken neck, been in a car accident and was hospitalized for a serious illness. Twice, he and his band were victims of theft.
Imagine, stealing from a bunch of Possum Eatin' Cowboys.
``One time, someone yelled out to us, `Who's in the Bus?' '' Supernaw recalled. The answer: ``Little Donny Crider and a bunch of possum eatin' cowboys.''
The name stuck. Will Supernaw stay on the scene?
``I'm worried that, eventually, my kind of music won't work on country radio,'' he said. ``A lot of artists are worried about that. The music has really changed. There's a lot of pop influence. If I'm gonna sing pop, I'll do Pearl jam. I wanna play country.
``A lot of times, (when) I'm driving down the road, I scan the radio and it's hard to tell what kind of station I've got.''
With such hits as ``Reno,'' ``Not Enough Hours in the Night'' and ``I Don't Call Him Daddy,'' his music is straight-ahead country.
But ``Daddy Made the Dollars (Mama Made the Sense),'' on his newest album ``You Still Got Me,'' is a different kind of ``daddy'' reference - one of those clever play-on-word things that is so much a part of country music.
Supernaw, the father of six, makes his dollars honestly, which is more than can be said for his forebears, Jesse and Frank James.
``They're relatives on my mom's side,'' he said. ``My great-grandma was Bessie James. She was Jesse's and Frank's first cousin.''
While the James brothers usually took money out, Supernaw has invested, most recently in a ranch in Conroe, Texas. ``My favorite thing at home is gettin' on the tractor.''
Supernaw once worked in Dime Box, Texas, putting in on an oil rig when he wasn't writing song. He also worked as a promoter, pushing acts as varied as Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, the Beastie Boys and Tom Jones. His first touch of Nashville fame came as a songwriter, but, being the restless sort, the Lone Star native moved on stage and into the studio.
He'll tell you there are other singers who are more than a match for him technically. Still, Supernaw has made a good name for himself.
``When you're not the world's greatest singer,'' he said, ``you have to reach down through your vocals and sing from your heart.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Doug Supernaw
[For a copy of the INFOLINE box, see microfilm.]
by CNB