Notes
Darrell Scott - The Invisible Man Darrell Scott is a powerful musical spirit. A Grammy-nominated artist, an award-winning songwriter, and a first-call session musician, living and working (literally and figuratively) on the fringes of Nashville's Music Row, Scott occupies his own unique half-acre in this city's crowded musical landscape. In a town that's got pigeonholing down to an art, Darrell Scott stands out as a refreshingly mischievous artist. The Invisible Man, Scott's sixth release, finds the artist at the peak of his powers, drawing from a rich well of influence and experience to create his most fully realized work to date. From the album's opening lyric, "In the early morning hours, just before you're wide awake," to it's closing title, "In My Final Hour," The Invisible Man traces a thematic arc between waking and sleeping, living and dying, shining a brilliant light on the fleeting moments between. Scott is a master of both the infectious, Appalachian-inflected riff, and of the instruments that bring them to life. His songs are propelled by his knack for blending tradition-soaked hooks with personal, contemporary lyrics. On The Invisible Man's 12 tracks, Scott explores themes of love, family, and the joys and pitfalls of the artist's life. And if the singer sounds a little politicized on songs like "I'm Nobody" and "Goodle, USA" (which is covered by Faith Hill on her latest release under the title "We've Got Nothing But Love to Prove"), there are good reasons. "There were times when I got up on a soapbox on this record," he says. "But I think we're living in the weirdest time of my lifetime, and I'm going to say something about it." Born on a tobacco farm in the coal-mining center of London, Kentucky, Scott moved as a young child to East Gary, Indiana, a steel-mill town on Lake Michigan near Chicago. His father is a musician, and he grew up around music and creativity. By 16, he was playing roadhouses in Southern California. After some dues-paying years in Toronto and Boston, where he attended Tufts University, studying poetry and literature, Scott finally made the move south. "Unless you come and start looking around, you could think Nashville is all country radio and Christian music," he says. "Then you realize that Hank Williams, Kris Kristofferson, and Mickey Newbury wrote here." From his earliest days in Nashville, Scott the instrumentalist gravitated toward the best, with singers like John Cowan, pickers like Sam Bush, and songwriters like Guy Clark employing his utilitarian string-slinging skills. "Playing with Sam or trying to sing with Cowan is a really cool thing to do," Scott says. "And if you're going to play to support a song, can it get better than supporting a Guy Clark song?" Darrell co-produced two Guy Clark albums Cold Dog Soup and The Dark. Also, Darrell is currently an active member of Steve Earle's Bluegrass Dukes. With gigs paying the bills, Scott pursued his solo career, recording two projects (1997's Aloha From Nashville and 1999's Family Tree) and a duet album, Real Time, with bluegrass stalwart Tim O'Brien. That album included the Grammy-nominated instrumental, "The Second Mouse," and the Grammy-winning song, "Long Time Gone." It wasn't long before his songs started to jump off those albums and onto the charts. Scott became one of Nashville's most decorated songwriters. He was named Songwriter of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2001 and ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year in 2002. Back in 2003, Scott launched Full Light Records, distributed by Ryko Distribution. His first move as owner was to make an album on his dad, Wayne Scott, and record This Weary Way, an old-school, mountain country album that was one of last year's more pleasant surprises. When putting his own records together, Scott calls on the cream of the crop. The recording roots of The Invisible Man go back to his powerful release, the critically acclaimed Theatre of the Unheard - which wo
