Collegiate Times

Scott spoke to the Collegiate Times over the phone about how to write songs, the importance of live music and Blacksburg’s best cup of coffee.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: Have you spent any time in Blacksburg or southwest Virginia?
DARRELL SCOTT: Yeah, I have actually. This will be the fourth time I’ve played Blacksburg. I really like it. It’s a great town with all the restaurants and little coffee shops. A lot of places don’t have that.

CT: Do you have a favorite cup of coffee in town?
SCOTT: There’s a place around the corner from the Lyric. I can’t remember the name, but I know if I go out the backstage entrance and around the corner it is right there. They have some really good coffee there.

CT: Your last album has been out since 2008. Are you still touring to support it or have you started opening up your set lists?
SCOTT: Well, I’m not one to really support an album. It’s interesting you should ask that. If I’m doing like a record release then I’ll play straight from the album, but most nights I have a very loose set list, and I let it breathe. I like to see where the night might take me, or what the audience is enjoying. So there will be a song or two from the new stuff, but I don’t let that box me in.

CT: When did you start playing music?
SCOTT: Early on. I come from a musical family. My dad would play in bars and at dances and stuff, and my brothers and I would back him up. Music was always part of my life growing up, and it all started there.

CT: You moved around a lot as a kid. You were born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana and California, and you went to college near Boston. What effect did that diverse upbringing have on your music?
SCOTT: Well it wasn’t an effect on the music so much as the writing. I went to Tufts University for literature and poetry. But I was a bit older when I started. I was 23 when I started college, and I wanted to be there. I was focused. So I have that very academic background as a writer, and that has shaped the way I write songs.

CT: You have had a lot of songs covered by different artists, some of which have gone on to become huge hits. Is that flattering?
SCOTT: It really is. The Dixie Chicks did a song of mine, “Long Time Gone,” which was huge. At the time, they were the biggest thing around. This is before all that Bush stuff happened, but it was great to see the song take off like that.

CT: Do you have a favorite cover?
SCOTT: I love that one, “Long Time Gone.” It’s kind of interesting because it’s written from a male perspective, and they kept that in the song.
Patty Loveless also did a really good one with “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.” She does it with so much honesty and raw emotion. It’s really good.

CT: You started a blog called “New Moon, New Music,” which gives listeners access to your recent live performances. What was your inspiration?
SCOTT: The blog is letting me get more music out (to) the listeners. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that the recorded album version of a song is the way it’s supposed to sound. Is that true? I think that playing a song live is this whole different, worthy experience. And if someone can’t make it out to a show to hear that, the blog is letting them enjoy that live experience.

CT: So you love playing live shows?
SCOTT: Every show is different, and the songs are never quite the same. The shows are never the same. You know which songs will work, which jokes will work and you can shake it all up. Listening to an album offers that one perspective. Blacksburg is a local gig for me because I just have to drive up from Nashville, so maybe I’ll bring my guitar and banjo, but also a mandolin and Dobro. Maybe I’ll play piano if they have one at the Lyric. That spontaneity is the best part of live performance.

CT: You host songwriting workshops every once in a while. What is your advice for the aspiring writer?
SCOTT: I do these workshops, and people come in, and I tell them that we’re not there to write hit songs. In college I was always told (to) “write what you know.” I had that drilled into me, and that’s my advice. If you stick to what you know and avoid chasing the charts, then you will have a really honest song. That’s where I’m coming from.

CT: In 2005, you helped your father, Wayne Scott, record his debut album. He was 71 at the time. How did that project come about?
SCOTT: My dad was a true musician. He just happened to have a family to take care of, and that kind of took priority. But he always was playing, and I just finally said to myself that he should have the shot. I learned a lot from him. He was influenced by guys like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. I knew how to make him comfortable and what kind of people I needed to get around him to make this thing work.
There were times he would look at me and say, “Why are you doing this?” In the end, it was just a fun, good time with my dad, and we came out with a great album.

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