One of Nashville’s best songwriters begins his newest album with the following words:

“I walk a crooked road to get to where I’m going,

to get to where I’m going I walk a crooked road

and only when I’m looking back I see the straight & narrow

I see the straight & narrow when I walk a crooked road.“

Darrell Scott has written great tunes for the Dixie Chicks (Long Time Gone), Patty Loveless (You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive) and dozens more.  His last album, a gem entitled Modern Hymns, showcased

“Songs and artists/songwriters whose music shook me as a kid (with ears nearly as big as my heart). They guided the way to my own path as a singer-songwriter . . . These songs speak to the human condition . . . in all of our aching and beautiful glory . . . These songs are the truth . . .“

Scott has a wonderful gravelly voice and is a masterful musician.  I love his work.

So I eagerly snapped up the album when I came across his most recent work last week, the deeply personal A Crooked Road. This is as autobiographical as Scott can be, touching on 30 years of love gained and love lost.  Scott plays all the instruments and supplies all the voices, and it never gets boring.  There are great tunes here, with some of my favorites including The Day Before Thanksgiving, A Father’s Song, Snow Queen and Drama Llama, and the one that helps wrap up this two-CD set, This Time ‘Round. And to prove he can turn a witty phrase with the best of Nashville’s Tin Pan Alley writers, For Suzanne begins with,

She’s been written in song by the best of names,

Stephen Foster, Leonard Cohen, and Sweet Baby James. 

I got this feeling this won’t be the same. 

My love song for Suzanne.

Nashville has a treasure trove of good songwriters.  Darrell Scott is among the best.

Enjoy the video of the title cut, and enjoy the album.

More to come…

DJB