Nevada Daily Mail

Recently, a Nevada singer and songwriter penned a song about his hometown of Nevada, proposing to city leaders that they consider naming it the official city song.

Doug Harper said he has heard of states having an official song, but not any cities with songs. He said his goal would be that the city adds the 'city with a song' to the list of other names such as the Bushwhacker City and Healthy Nevada.

Harper, who performs his music under the name Dangerous Doug Harper, describes the song "Nevada Missouri" as a light-hearted, mini-series story song with five parts currently existing in the song, the first one released and already available online. Harper says he expects to write a sixth one and possibly more parts after that.

"We all love Nevada, it's our town," the lyrics of the song say, adding, "We keep getting better and better, better everyday."

The song follows a man wanting to be a drummer in a band and the development of his career and the support from Nevada. Harper often mentions local establishments and even names residents in the song.

Harper said he came up with the original concept for the song in 1997, and in 2008 wrote "Nevada Song." But because of another song of the same song referring to the state of Nevada, he named his current work, updating and enhancing the previous song, "Nevada Missouri."

With the goal of promoting the city as its official song, Harper sent the song and information to the city council for their consideration. If the city council accepts the proposal, a proclamation would be made naming "Nevada Missouri" as the city's official song.

"I feel like the song is going to promote the town," Harper said. "It's going to promote me as an artist, it's going to promote my fellow musicians as artists, it's going to promote the community as a whole and it's going to take people there."

Harper says he also believes this would be a step in the direction of improving the music scene in Nevada and drawing more attention to that aspect of the city, such as in the award-winning music program at the high school.

"I don't think we'll ever be what Branson is, but then we've got our own thing," Harper said.

The song also serves as free advertising for the city of Nevada, Harper said, as it is available online at different venues such as Spotify and other online music sites at no cost. The lyrics and links to the song can be found on its Facebook page, Nevada Missouri Song.

"I found a loophole for promoting Nevada through music," Harper said.

In his more recent songs, Harper says he includes lyrics referring to Nevada, such as by mentioning the lights of "Cinema Six" at "exit three," referring to Nevada's own Century Six movie theater at the third exit when entering Nevada.

"There's a piece of Nevada in almost all my tunes that are new," Harper said, referring to those songs as part of his Nevada genre.

Harper has been in the music business for 21 years and has performed at venues from Hollywood, Calif., to Nashville, Tenn., as well as other states including South Dakota, Nevada, Illinois and Louisiana. But his first priority has been to promote Nevada.

Harper says he prefers to play at home in Nevada rather than on the road, returning to perform live at local venues and events.

"I think what I'm doing with my music ... is really directed at talking about, promoting and evolving art," Harper said.