Sara Douga Brings Louisiana Fire to Nashville

She’s as hot as Tabasco sauce, and as smooth as a glass of good whiskey. With one foot in South Louisiana and one in Nashville, Sara Douga is keeping her musical traditions intact while running an indie career. Her second album, Woman Out of Me, was released on May 26. She’s a music businesswoman who wrote most of the songs, put together a band of A-list Nashville musicians, and self-produced the album at Starstruck Studios.

A Solid Beginning

Sara grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she wrote her first song at the age of eight. “I was getting ready for school, and I could hear it in my head. Intuitively, I knew I had to write it down.” She played in a local casino when she was 15, and at 16, Sara recorded her first release. “I’m not sure what gets you into it, but I know it gets into you.” 

While she loved music, Sara had other aspirations. “I attended McNeese State University, where I earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Conservation Management.” In other words, Sara was as happy in a swamp as she was on stage. After college, she interned with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and served with the Texas Coastal Fisheries Department. While she was an outdoors girl, Sara still loved performing. “I worked for a while at a private hunting club where I assisted clients by day and sang in the lounge at night.” 

Sara recounted a time she was catching gators as part of her job.“Gator catching is something that has to be done between 1am and 3am,” she explains. “On one particular night, it was pitch-black dark. Someone was driving the airboat, and I was lying chest-down on the bow of the boat as it glided through the water. When we saw a gator’s eyes shining, we slowed way down, and I grabbed it by the neck to pull it into the boat. My job then was to put a rubber band with a tracking tag around its mouth.”  That night, the gator nipped her finger. “It was really no big deal, but they made me go to the emergency room, get a tetanus shot, and I had to take antibiotics.” 

While she enjoyed her work outdoors, her heart wasn’t in it enough to make it her forever career. “I had loved music for so long, I finally decided to follow my heart.” So in 2019, she packed her bags and moved to Nashville. “It was something I always knew I would do, and Jim Lauderdale opened the gate for me to get in.” While it can be a tough town for a musician to navigate, Sara made herself at home in Nashville. A single mom of two (daughter Catherine (9) and son Caius (11), Sara taught middle school science and has served as a guest host on Bill Cody’s morning show on WSM. “I did it when he was sick,” says Sara. “It was hard to hear that he passed away. Bill will be missed by many.”

The Jim Lauderdale Connection

When Sara met industry veteran Jim Lauderdale, he liked what she was doing. “We began collaborating a bit, and he invited me to make a debut guest appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. That was my first gig when I moved to town.” Jim has recorded five songs that he and I co-wrote,” says Sara. “He has introduced me to so many people and helped open doors for me.” 

First, Write the Song

Sara has developed into a talented songwriter. “I was invited to be a solo songwriter for a festival in Lafayette, Louisiana, as part of the mayor’s initiative called “Create Lafayette,” designed to get a better music scene by paying artists good wages.” 

She wrote songs in England at Chris Difford’s songwriting retreat, thanks to a Buddy Holly Educational Foundation scholarship. Sara enjoys songwriting competitions, collaborations, and teaching others to write songs. Without the songwriter, the song wouldn’t exist. 

Sara has been invited to write for several artists, including Louise Goffin (daughter of Carole King and Gerry Goffin), Sterling Drake, and Brennen Leigh. “Also the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys,” she says. “I’ll have two songs on their next album.” Australian artist Ella Hooper recorded two songs that she and Sara co-wrote, “Old News” and “Small Town Temple.” Hooper’s Small Town Temple album debuted at #1 on the ARIA Country Charts. 

Woman Out of Me

In her second full-length album, Woman Out of Me, Sara isn’t afraid to express her truth. She is a Cajun-raised child of South Louisiana and all the influences that go with it. “I have always loved my culture – we are survivors. So country, and so Cajun, the people in Louisiana are resilient and strong. I come from a cowboy town with world champion cowboys and Olympians. I’m inspired by the people of my home state.” 

Her Louisiana roots are front and center on the album. As a matter of fact, she sings two of the songs in French. “My grandmother spoke French during a time when kids were dropping out of school in South Louisiana for speaking French,” says Sara. “I have sung back vocals for a Cajun band, and I used to sing in French at wedding masses and at funerals. It’s part of the Cajun culture that I want to see carried on.” 

She does a Zachary Richard tune on the album called Bella Louisiane, and a revival of the late Aime Comeaux’s “Who’s She to You,” which Sara says is a hat tip to the women of Louisiana. 

When putting together the song list for the album, Sara says she wanted to tell the listeners a full story. The record starts with a song about staying in a relationship too long, overcoming it, and leaving, before finding her true self. 

“I’m really proud of this album,” says Sara. She should be. It’s like a delicious bowl of gumbo – good to the very end. 

https://www.saradouga.com/