Earlier this year, The Doohickeys—Haley Spence Brown and Jack Hackett—submitted the winning video to the American Songwriter Lights, Camera, Talent Contest. Today, we’re proud to premiere the latest single from their forthcoming album All Hat No Cattle. Watch the official lyric video for “This Town Sucks” below.
Videos by American Songwriter
The Doohickeys submitted the music video for the album’s lead single, “Rein It in, Cowboy” to the contest. Since then, they’ve released two more samples—“I Wish My Truck Was Bigger” and “9 to 6 (A Modern 9 to 5).” Now, the group delivers a humorous take on hometown angst with “This Town Sucks.”
[RELATED: A Q&A With the Lights, Camera, Talent Promotion Music Video Winner, The Doohickeys]
While written about Brown’s hometown of Liberty, Missouri, the song will resonate with listeners from small towns across the country. Lines like We got half a dozen churches / ‘Bout half as many stoplights / And even though we only got one bar/ We got half a million bar fights will ring true to folks from countless tiny towns across the country that don’t warrant dots on a map.
The Doohickeys exclusively told American Songwriter, “’This Town Sucks’ is about our love-hate relationship with our hometown. It was written about Liberty, Missouri. But, if you’re from Liberty, it’s about Smithville.”
More About The Doohickeys
Haley Spence Brown and Jack Hackett come from different backgrounds. Brown hails from Liberty, Missouri where she grew up playing country and bluegrass with her family’s band. According to press materials, “She would like you to know that she has, in fact, stuck her hand up a horse’s butt to clear out an impaction.” So, there’s no doubting her country pedigree. Hackett, on the other hand, has done no such thing. Instead, he grew up in a strict Japanese-American household in Atlanta, Georgia filled with the music of Jimmy Buffett, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, and Green Day.
The duo met far from home on the campus of USC where they worked together on the college TV station’s satirical news show. Before forming The Doohickeys, they worked together on several sketches. The duo had been making people laugh for some time before they discovered their shared love of country music at a party hosted by Hackett.
While there is humor in the songs they write, The Doohickeys aren’t a comedy act and these aren’t novelty songs. In short, they may be funny but the music they make is seriously good.
All Hat No Cattle drops on January 24, 2025.
Featured Image by Jesse DeFlorio
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