Darrell Scott – Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville – photo Jim Jacob
Darrell Scott is one of my favourite singer-songwriters. His performance at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, as a part of the Americana Festival 2016, was sublime and intensely beautiful. The Grammy-nominated performer has a lot to say and his ability to construct songs around the most emotional topics is something to behold.
Scott has announced a new album Couchville Sessions, to be released on May 13 2016 via Full Light Records. He has recorded many highly-regarded solo records, collaborated successfully with acclaimed country/bluegrass figure Tim O’Brien, penned songs for numerous artists such as Mary Gauthier and Keb Mo’ and claimed a key spot in Robert Plant‘s Band of Joy.
Couchville Sessions follows Scott’s excellent 2015 album release 10: Songs of Ben Bullington.
From the press release:
Scott’s approach to making music parallels the way he also has chosen to live. Currently making his home outside of Nashville, on the Cumberland Plateau, he focuses on a sustainable lifestyle, heating with wood, utilizing solar energy and growing his food. The fourteen songs on Couchville Sessions are a natural and inevitable product of this pure and unapologetic approach to making music and living life.
The material on the album is comprised of mostly Darrell Scott originals, mixed with a few carefully chosen nods to “the masters” including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Townes Van Zandt. Scott tackles profound issues – demise of relationships in “Time To Go Away”, mortality “It’s Another Day To Live And Die” and depression in “Another Grey Morning” (James Taylor), but delivers them in such a way that there’s a sense and light and comfort in this collection.
The musicians gathered together for this recording are a hand-picked group of virtuosos including acclaimed English musician Danny Thompson on bass, percussionist Kenny Malone, steel guitar wiz Dan Dunmore, and Bill Payne (Little Feat/The Doobie Brothers) on piano and organ. Special guest appearances include vocals by Peter Rowan, John Cowan, and a rare narration by Guy Clark. The result is a collection of stunning and fearlessly played tracks, mostly recorded live, which offer the perfect backdrop for Scott’s mesmerizing vocals.
The way in which Darrell Scott lives and creates, his love and respect for “the masters”, and the unapologetic way he in which he approaches life across the board are just some of his beautiful and unique qualities. Couchville Sessions captures that spirit.
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