First published in  Lonely Goat Print Magazine Volume II - #10

Damn Near as Good as Hank Williams
by J.D. Edwards (November, 1999)

Part two of the songwriter showcase ventured no further east than the foothills of Hickory. Anyone who has seen the Sam Bush Band in the last few years knows his name, although few utter it publicly since his departure for a solo career. Currently, he's the brains behind those rhinestone suits, the engine that powers the Opryland tour buses; I'm speaking of one of the finest young songwriters in Nashville today, Darrell Scott, who creates modern country gems with one eye on the old-time traditions of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.

Darrell set up shop on the homey acoustic stage at Hickory's Arts and Science Center with an eclectic electric quartet. Looking like a portlier, bearded DeNiro in loose flowing Krishna-wear, Darrell stood modestly among his guitars, mandolins and banjos, just some of the many instruments on which he is proficient. I was all set to enjoy a laid-back evening of acoustic storytelling and softly sung wisdom.

What I wasn't expecting was a rollicking jam band dynamic to materialize before my very eyes. Darrell seemed reluctant to limit himself to the songwriter alone by favoring the jam versatility of electric guitar on many songs. The soloists locked into some lengthy blues-flavored grooves propelled by the often-jazzy syncopations of the rhythm section, which included the sparse steady brushwork of percussionist Kenny Malone and the freewheeling bass of vocal cyclone John Cowan. And rounding it out with a few original ballads, session man Steve Conn soloed skillfully and often on piano, mouth organ and accordion.

The versatile quartet blasted through slow to mid-tempo blues standards, some upbeat Cajun swamp boogie and Johnny C's languorous R&B devotionals. Cowan also floored the crowd of roughly one hundred with a heart stopping vocal tightrope act on Merle Travis' "Dark as a Dungeon," which segued directly into Darrell's autobiographical tour-de-force "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive," completing what Sam Bush previously dubbed "the coal mining segment of the show." Darrell's greatest achievement and perhaps the finest song written in twenty years, "Harlan" reminded everyone that the night's focus remained on his songs, not Cowan's showmanship or Conn's deft fingers.

Reared in Eastern Kentucky, Darrell now resides in the country music Mecca of Nashville but still uses those desperate mining hills as landscape for his songs. His second release finds him focusing even more on family and relationships as evidenced by song titles like "My Father's House," "I Never Had a Sister" and the title track "Family Tree," all of which appeared at the Hickory performance. but June and Ward beware, this is no Cleaver family panacea; these themes explore the darker side of relationships such as divorce, financial hardship, court-ordered visitations, missed opportunities and unrealized dreams.

Darrell also delved back into his steadily growing repertoire of well-crafted classics. From his Verlon Thompson collaboration on the history of the banjo "Old Joe Clark" to his tribute to the awkwardness of adolescent sexual discovery "Helen of Troy, PA" to his anthem of positive thinking "It's a Great Day to be Alive," many of his oldies were dusted off and expanded upon by the nimble quartet.

And after Cowan and conn encored, Darrell left us with his clever Tim O'Brien collaboration "When There's No One Around" about the difference between our public and private selves coupled as it is on the new release with the uplifting gospel classic "Will the Circle be Unbroken." And after the modest although undiminished crowd roared for more, Darrell came out again and finished up with Steely Dan's "Any World (that I'm welcome to)" also from Family Tree, contrasting his gritty earnest voice with Cowan's high feminine harmonies. The band then left Darrell onstage by himself to send us off a cappella style, smiling and satisfied.

The show was hardly the mellow songwriter spotlight I had anticipated. But Darrell demonstrated that great songs fit into many different contexts, be it blues, jazz, folk, zydeco, bluegrass or rockabilly. What he wound up giving the attentive and appreciative audience was the portrait of a complete singer-songwriter as not just an artistic hermit or puppeteer to the hit makers but a well-rounded musician who can sing, write, perform, produce, master many instruments and assemble only the best around him. And for that uncommon completeness alone, solo Darrell stands to be watched as Nashville's next great export of the new millennium.