They made their way to Los Angeles to study comedy. They accidentally formed a country band. Haley Spence Brown and Jack Hackett of The Doohickeys have proven to be quite gifted in both realms.
The Doohickeys perform real country music while taking shots at tropes of the genre and pains of rural living. But they do it in a way that’s often loving and always healthy. Unbelievably, a song discussing ‘truck size’ turns into an opportunity to promote male body positivity and healthy sexual goals. It’s bold, unique, and funny. And it allows men to be satisfied with their appearance “as long as my lady gets to where she is going.”
“When we wrote it, we weren’t even really a band. We wrote it for sketch comedy,” said Hackett. “People have this machismo manly persona in country music. Very rarely do we talk about our insecurities.”
Shockingly, they originally planned for “I Wish My Truck Was Bigger” to be a slower song. It could’ve been ugly.
“You can’t do a real sad song about that,” Hackett added. “You have to laugh at it. I’m shocked at the number of deep dives there have been on this song. I thought people would just glaze over it but I’m happy about it.”
There’s an important line in the song “This Town Sucks” that sums up their gentle touch: “I know I say I hate it here/but it made me who I am/so I can say it’s crap/but don’t think that means you can.”
A few targets — an aggressive man at the bar, televangelists, and faux populist politicians — take a direct hit. But for the most part, The Doohickeys are laughing at themselves and celebrating things like Jack’s beat up truck and Haley’s hero of a father.
Hackett is from the Atlanta area while Brown comes from the rural Liberty, Missouri.
“I think every mainstream country artist has a song about their small town and this is ours,” Brown said.
While they aren’t aiming for mainstream country success, there’s plenty of commentary and discussion with the genre. One of the characters they take a less than kind view on in the title track is a country star from Seattle who fakes a Southern drawl.
“I would argue that the vast majority of people from where I’m from are tired of musicians who pretend to be country,” said Brown. “They’re tired of politicians who pretend to be populists.”
Brown’s solution to the problem is hilarious and, considering her background in comedy, shockingly brilliant.
“Have Congress work as a jury pool where we just randomly pull people to serve for two years,” Brown explained. “Cause it can’t be crazier than it is now.”
The pair were shocked how much love their song has gotten on both sides of the aisle, even as it took aim at mostly conservative leaning figures.
“If you’re a televangelist, maybe just let us know what your net worth is, Hackett said. “Or maybe be taxed.”
What’s shocking is how good and meaningful one of their less comedic songs is. It tells the true story of Brown’s father, a lawyer who defends farmers against any governmental body looking to exercise eminent domain.
“My dad’s awesome,” Brown said. “I wanted to sit down and write a song that was authentically me but inspired by Dolly Parton.”
The song sounds quite a bit like Parton wrote and performed it. And compared to the subjects of “All Hat, No Cattle,” it’s a reminder of what a real populist hero looks like. It’s a man who left a job foreclosing on farms to defend the little guy who just wants to remain in his home.
“He saw what they were doing,” Brown explained. “He really wanted to get an inside view on their operations.”
Brown’s love for Parton runs deep. She received viral acclaim for an online audition to play Parton in a musical production. It just so happened she recorded it as the band fled Los Angeles during the recent wildfires. Brown doesn’t look much like Parton, but she absolutely has the voice and soul to perform her music.
“It was a really nice positive moment in a really scary week,” she said.
There are some unhinged moments on the album that deliver on the promise of comedy. “Please Tell Me You’re Sleepin’” truly goes in an unexpected and hilarious direction. “Too Ugly To Hitchhike” is a good concept but perhaps a few decades too late.
But most of the laughs come on songs like “I Don’t Give A Damn About Football.” A little comic exaggeration on a common but under discussed problem among country music fans — in this case a man more focused on football than his wife — and a couple of lines of observational humor, and you have a Doohickeys song. It’s solid blue collar humor that doesn’t resort to cruelty. Somehow, this occasionally raunchy album is one of the more unique and wholesome things you’ll hear in 2025. It’s just a beautiful thing that this project exists.
Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Haley and Jack and the songs we discussed, starting with This Town Sucks, which both roasts and stands up for small town living. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Tuesday at 12pm on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://www.thedoohickeysband.com for more.
Country Pocket 