Darrell Scott
Invisible Man
Full Light
Most of Scott’s past studio work has mainly been rooted in, and is probably more well-known for, a more ‘traditional’ – or maybe an ‘updated-traditional’ – sound than this release has, and on a Musician-level. Scott would’ve fit right into The Newgrass Revival.
Scott is known as a top-notch, in-demand, and pretty dang successful radio-friendly song crafter. This has earned him a level of freedom that allows him to this one for himself.
This release is colored by a more atmospheric quality and much of it occupies a different space – sometimes straddling that space where some of the better artists of the ’70s made their names in rock and roll. It’s abit topical too – which is a departure for Scott.
Scott is about as literate as anyone in Nashville and his stories are informed by a lot more than Hank Williams, Jimmy Rodgers, Johnny Cash, and The Carter Family. He mainly stays ‘in the light’ and doesn’t tend to get into that Southern Gothic trap that some are prone to do. Scott does throw the futile-laborer-of-the-underworld Sisyphus into this mix – although in this version, Sisyphus been transplanted to a cave in Kentucky and he’s equipped with a pickup truck so that he can drag his burden from a cave on into town. That’s about as Gothic as it gets here though.
It’s a crisp and tight production with a sly sense of humor and some master musicians that go to places not all men would dare go. Fools might rush in and get overwrought, overproduced or eaten alive on this type of work.
Darrell does it right.
Darrell Scott: http://www.darrellscott.com
