As love affairs go, Mike Doughty's relationship with the Twin Cities was a whirlwind young romance that lasted for the long haul.
"For like the first couple years in [Soul Coughing], we'd play to 250 people in Chicago, 1,500 people in Minneapolis, and then back to 150 people in Denver," Doughty remembered. "There's always been that strong foundation there."
It's still here, eight years after the breakup of his New York-reared "slacker jazz" group. His solo singles get strong airplay on the Current 89.3 and Cities 97, both staffed by ex-DJs of the late, lamented station that gave Soul Coughing its early boost, Rev 105.
The New Yorker even has found a creative partner in Minneapolis: former Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson, who produced Doughty's two main albums, 2005's "Haughty Melodic" and last month's release "Golden Delicious."
"When I first went out there to work with Dan, I loved it," said Doughty. "I thought he was a really intellectual and empathetic guy. And I loved the way our little recordings sounded. They were just demos, but they were great, and that's how 'Haughty Melodic' came about."
"Golden Delicious" takes its musical cue from "Haughty," with a lot of acoustic-based and raw sounds. His music has developed since his Soul Coughing days, but Doughty, 37, remains a distinctive songwriting voice. He balances poetic and surrealistic songs with ironic or satirical tunes like "27 Jennifers," a funny riff on a real-life dating pattern.
"I dated, like, five women named Michelle right in a row," he said. "But Jennifer just sounded better than Michelle in the context of a song. Also, I remembered in high school that all the girls were either named Jennifer, Heather or Lisa."
After growing up on military bases, Doughty rebelled against his upbringing, headed to New York City and formed Soul Coughing in 1992. The group issued three albums over six years. However, he said there was bad blood in the group just a few years into it -- mostly over creative control.
