Imagine this. Rock legend Robert Plant leaned in to his microphone for two weeks of recording such songs as “Cindy” just before Christmas in Nashville.
A tiny band accompanied the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin.
Darrell Scott played in that band.
See Scott on Feb. 13 at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn.
Because of the rescheduled Bluegrass All Star Jam, this show is the first in the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance concert series at the Paramount, which also includes former “Hee-Haw” star Roni Stoneman, and Dale Jett and his band Hello Stranger.
Back to Nashville, the studio and Scott with Robert Plant.
“Those two-plus weeks were some of the most memorable times I’ve ever had in the studio,” Scott said on Tuesday afternoon from his home in Nashville, Tenn. “The number-one thing is that Robert loves music. You think they’re posing and just getting through it, but I was humbled with how Robert Plant loved the music – old country, blues, rockabilly.”
Look for Plant’s Buddy Miller-produced album later this year. Listen for Scott, who played such instruments as mandolin and glockenspiel on the album.
But first, Scott’s new solo album is due for a spring release. Nearly completed and titled “A Crooked Road,” the album underscores the word ambitious.
“It’s turning out to be a double record,” said the author of such songs as “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive.” “I played and sang everything on it.”
You read that right.
“Every sound on the record from the vocals to the instruments that you hear is me on it,” he said. “I’ve really been wanting to make a record like this since I was 16. I didn’t try to make a perfect album.”
Instead, the album’s human touch in terms of sound carries into the album’s theme of relationships. On that note, Scott drew from his own life.
“The subject matter, a crooked road, is my way of talking about love relationships,” Scott said.
You could say that the album details that Scott has lived, loved and lost amid good, bad and ugly relationships experienced.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “I think we all have. These songs allowed me to write my experiences then string them together for this record. This is close to a concept record.”
Stylistically, Scott’s album also mirrors life in that the music features a variety of sounds.
“It moves from full rock to songs with just me on a piano,” Scott said. “Some songs are sort of bluegrass, and some have a quasi-church kind of feel. It’s a very diverse pathway.”
Likewise can be stated of Scott’s career. Such luminaries as Garth Brooks, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire have recorded his songs. An in-demand multi-instrumentalist, Scott has played on dozens of albums by the likes of Randy Travis and the aforementioned Robert Plant.
He also found time in December to produce an album for Marcus Hummon.
So perhaps it’s no wonder that when Scott called on Tuesday, he was sick.
“I’ve done a lot of traveling in the past few days, and the body is saying, ‘You’re going down,’ ” Scott said. “It’s making me go to bed for a couple of days before Bristol. Otherwise, I’m doing fine.”
IF YOU GO
What: Birthplace of Country Music Alliance at the Paramount Series
Who: Darrell Scott, Roni Stoneman, and Dale Jett and Hello Stranger
When: Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: $20 for adults, $15 for students
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web and audio: www.darrellscott.com
TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at features@bristolnews.com.
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