Doug was born & raised in the Davis Mountains of Texas. He took piano & violin lessons there as a child, but showed little interest until his latter teens. His musical influence came mainly from his father, who played fiddle & guitar in his own cowboy band. Doug decided at the age of 17 to pursue a musical career, leaving Fort Davis directly upon high school graduation and heading off to Levelland, Texas to attend South Plains College for study in commercial music. He played fiddle for the Bent Tree Jamboree Dinner Theater in Ruidoso, NM during the summers of 1993 to 1996, and in the Barleen Family Dinner Theatre in Phoenix, AZ over the winters of 1995 & 1996. While in Phoenix, he acquired a McNab/Border Collie puppy he named Holly-peņo, who eventually became a significant element to his musical act. Between 1994 & 1999, Doug moved between Phoenix, Ruidoso, Nashville, East Tennessee, Dallas, and Austin several times, playing fiddle with numerous cover bands and picking up odd jobs in between. In 1999, Doug decided he would rather work for himself and play his own songs, so with the help of friend John Wheeler (of Hayseed-Dixie fame), he recorded his first two albums, with all-original material, and made a final move to Austin to start up his own band. He didn't get his band put together, but he got himself in the middle of the emerging Texas Music circuit, opening shows for the likes of Cory Morrow, Pat Green, Roger Creager, and others. Doug stood out with his musical comedy routine accompanied by just a guitar and a fiddle-playing dog. In 2000, they co-hosted the Willie Nelson picnic and recorded a Live album in front of a sold out College Station crowd. Doug recorded another Live album in 2002 (his fourth). In 2003, the duo appeared on national television as guests of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Animal Planet's Pet Star, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Doug also hosted a weekly radio program in Austin during the fall of 2003 & 2004. In 2003, Doug contributed a Live recording to the Waylon Jennings Red River Tribute album. And in 2004, Doug released his 5th album Everybody Knows My Name (full studio production) under his own BigHat Records label. He finally got his Big Hat Band put together that year, but felt discontent with the instrumentation. He also lost Holly-peņo his singing & fiddle-playing sidekick in July 2004, so he decided he needed to start over once again in 2005. Doug reformed his show as an all-acoustic trio (fiddle, guitar, and upright bass), with their debut performance opening for Willie Nelson! By the end of 2005, the Doug Moreland Show was in full swing as a 5-piece band with the addition of drums and piano. 2006 saw things growing even bigger as his new group recorded & produced their own full-band project titled Doug Moreland.