In 2010, he recorded and toured as part of Robert Plant's "Band of Joy" project.
Scott has also collaborated with Steve Earle, Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, John Cowan, Verlon Thompson, Guy Clark, Tim O'Brien, Kate Rusby, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and many others. His unique music has attracted a growing fanbase, and he tours regularly with his own band.
Much of the commentary about Darrell Scott’s career has focused on the songs he’s written that have been recorded by famous names and voices – those known in music industry parlance as “artists.” But then there’s the actual word artist, whose definition has nothing to do with radio hits and red carpets. We refer of course to those who create artifacts of aesthetic and intellectual contemplation and wonder, built from experience, skill, reflection and emotional intent. That’s an artist. And that, at the end of the day, is Darrell Scott.
This is made abundantly clear on A Crooked Road, Scott’s sixth solo studio album. Recorded at home and entirely performed by Scott on a variety of instruments, A Crooked Road falls somewhere between a carefully crafted memoir and an arresting breach of privacy. From the deepest containers of memory, it recounts the bruises and blessings of 30 years of love relationships, stirring the heart with its intimacy and with the enthralling warmth and strength of Scott’s rare voice and musicianship. It is certainly the most introspective and intense project of Scott’s career, spilling over from one CD onto a second, and arranged as a journey with instrumental interludes and a sense of purpose that invites the listener to follow Scott along the crooked road of life, from romantic young man to drama king to lone poet.
Why this album, and why now? Scott says the proximate cause was the approach of his 50th birthday and a long process of adjusting to being single for the first time since first getting married at age 20. The songs were not written with the album in mind specifically, but upon looking at his output over a period of a few years, Scott saw a strong theme emerging. A sequence of songs presented themselves with the kind of clarity that rings an inner bell and signals ‘this is an album.’ Indeed, Scott shelved several other projects temporarily in order to focus on the recording of these 20 songs and pieces.
That recording took place in unusual isolation. Scott generally calls upon peers from the top ranks of roots and Americana music for his projects, but this seemed like the right time to realize a life-long aspiration of making an album by himself. When Darrell was 16, his father, a remarkable songwriter and singer in his own right, purchased a four-track, reel-to-reel recorder. Darrell virtually adopted it, spending many long nights in a shed, laying down parts and harmonizing with himself on a variety of instruments. It was a vital part of his musical schooling, as he figured out how instruments sound together and how to layer parts with grace and taste. While he did engage the help of his regular recording engineer Stephanie Hudacek at a console one floor below his living room “studio,” otherwise Scott worked alone. He would lay down a baseline performance of a song with the right backing instrument, whether guitar, piano or mandocello. Then he added parts, sometimes a single line and in some cases all the parts of a fleshed out band. It is perhaps no surprise that he dedicated the project to guitar pioneer Les Paul, the father of multi-track recording, who died while the album was being recorded at age 94.
As for the music itself, longtime fans of Scott will find a lot that is familiar here: that soul-saturated voice, somewhere between Lowell George and James Taylor, the dazzling instrumental chops and the unfailing judgment about what makes a song sturdy enough to stand up to the wind and weather of time. The album opens with the title track, a simple tune that throws back a bit to the folk-pop of the early 1970s. It lays out the geography of the album to come. “I will sing a lonesome song to anyone who’ll listen,” he says, invoking the muse and inviting the kind of active attention the album merits.
Highlight songs include “Long Wide Open Road,” wherein Darrell recounts his first love with wistful hindsight. “For Suzanne” burrows into the complex cocktail of guilt and anger that remain in the wake of a crashed relationship. “Colorado” finds Scott in lone contemplation on a spiritual road trip. And the passion and humor of a forest-fire romance are described in the rocking “Snow Queen and Drama Llama.” The last stage of the journey achieves new plateaus of insight and peace in songs like the lush and grand “This Time ‘Round” and the spare benediction of “This Beggar’s Heart.”
It’s a special album from a special time in the life of a special recording artist. Its hand-crafted feeling evokes the integrity and permanence of a well-made instrument or an expertly done painting. It may be more somber and vulnerable than Scott’s previous releases, but for that reason it has that much more emotional directness and power. It is truly a self-portrait of the artist as an older and wiser man.
Craig Havighurst
Nashville 2010
Career Highlights:
American Songwriter Top 25 Songs from the last 25 Years - #6: "It's A Great Day To Be Alive" - 2009
Americana Award for Song of the Year - "Hank William's Ghost" 2007
4th Annual Independent Music Award for Album of the Year - Theatre of the Unheard - Jan 2005
Indie Acoustic Best CD Lyrics - 2004
#3 2004 Country Music Songwriter of the Year - (ranked by over 100 music critics)
Grammy Nomination for Best Country Song – "Long Time Gone" Dixie Chicks 2003
Rolling Stone Magazine 2003 Critics Top Albums - Theatre of the Unheard
IBMA Song of the Year Nominee - 2002, 2003
Village Voice Pazz & Jopp Poll - 2000, 2003
Founded Full Light Records - Apr 2003
ASCAP Songwriter of the Year - 2002
Grammy Nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance – “The Second Mouse” 2001
NSAI Songwriter of the Year - 2001
10000 Miles Away
Darrell Scott Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stealing leaves out of their trees
It's a moment full of mystery
Summer's last breath before the freeze
But the change will make me stronger
As I deal with shorter days
Summer's moved to South America
10,000 miles away
To the top of hunger mountain
I found my solitary way
Where I could live on nuts & honey
And take my shelter in a cave
Then I thought of friends and family
Who would never pass this way
When I opened my eyes I saw them
10,000 miles away
Where is that fragile boy we knew
Whose passion was his curse?
He found the error of humanity
But he did not see it first
His accordion and couplets
Have no real effect today
Is he sleeping on some sidewalk
10,000 miles away
No one should have to try
No one should have to try so
No one should have to try so hard
No one
In Darrell Scott's song "10,000 Miles Away," the lyrics describe the change of seasons and the singer's feelings of isolation and distance from loved ones. The opening lines speak of feeling the wind and the mystery it brings as summer comes to an end and gives way to the colder months. The singer acknowledges that the change will make them stronger, but also recognizes the distance that has been created as summer has moved to South America, 10,000 miles away.
The second verse takes a different turn as the singer describes their journey to Hunger Mountain, where they live off the land, eating nuts and honey and sheltering in a cave. The solitude is short-lived as the singer thinks of friends and family who will never join them on this path. The final lines of the verse reveal that when the singer opens their eyes, they are still 10,000 miles away from their loved ones.
The final verse takes on a more philosophical tone as the singer reflects on a person who once had a passion for life and music but has since fallen on hard times, potentially sleeping on a sidewalk far away. The lyrics express empathy for this person and the sentiment that no one should ever have to try so hard.
Overall, the lyrics of "10,000 Miles Away" reflect on the passing of time, the distance created by changing seasons, and the isolation that can come with following one's own path. However, there is also a sense of strength and resilience in the face of these challenges.
Line by Line Meaning
I can feel it when the wind blows
I am aware of the sudden change signified by the chilly wind blowing and carrying away the leaves that once thrived on trees
Stealing leaves out of their trees
The wind's intensity pulls away the leaves, stripping the trees bare, thereby symbolizing the finality and inevitability of the transition from summer to winter
It's a moment full of mystery
The sudden change in seasons is a phenomenon that is intriguing and difficult to fully comprehend or predict
Summer's last breath before the freeze
The coming of winter heralds the end of summer's glory and vibrance, and marks the beginning of a cold and unforgiving season
But the change will make me stronger
The transformation that comes with the seasons helps to build resilience, making individuals stronger and better able to withstand whatever comes their way
As I deal with shorter days
The shorter days that occur during winter test a person's ability to adapt and adjust to change
Summer's moved to South America
The summer season has shifted to South America, which is located far away from the singer's current location
10,000 miles away
The distance between the artist's current location and South America, where summer resides, is 10,000 miles
To the top of hunger mountain
The artist ascended a mountain, which he called Hunger Mountain, that was devoid of any food or sustenance
I found my solitary way
The artist found a path to solitude and reflection, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life
Where I could live on nuts & honey
The singer was able to survive on basic foodstuffs like nuts and honey, without the need for the excesses of modern civilization
And take my shelter in a cave
The artist found refuge in a cave, which provided a safe haven from the outside world
Then I thought of friends and family
The singer began to think of loved ones back home, and how they would never embark on this kind of journey with him
Who would never pass this way
The singer accepts that not everyone will share his sense of wanderlust or thirst for adventure in the same way as he does
When I opened my eyes I saw them
The singer suddenly woke up from his trance, and realized that he was far away from home and his loved ones
Where is that fragile boy we knew
The artist wonders where the child-like, vulnerable version of himself has gone, the one who was full of passion, idealism and wonder
Whose passion was his curse?
The artist regrets that his youthful passion, while well-intentioned, may have caused him more harm than good
He found the error of humanity
The singer became disillusioned with the flaws and injustices of human society, and sought a way to rectify them
But he did not see it first
The singer later realized that his perception of events may not have been the most accurate or objective, and that there were complexities and nuances that eluded him
His accordion and couplets
The artist's tools of expression, his accordion and verses, were once his most effective means of communication and critique
Have no real effect today
The artist acknowledges that his creative output and message may no longer resonate with the current times, and that new forms of expression and activism are necessary
Is he sleeping on some sidewalk
The artist imagines that the artist whose voice he once was has likely fallen on hard times and is now reduced to sleeping on the streets
10,000 miles away
The distance between the singer and the artist, whose fate he ponders, is vast and seemingly insurmountable
No one should have to try
The artist believes that life should not be such a struggle, and that people should not have to exert themselves endlessly to survive or thrive
No one should have to try so
The singer reiterates that the struggles of life can be oppressive and overwhelming, and that such oppression should not exist
No one should have to try so hard
The singer asserts that the magnitude of the challenges that we face, and the difficulty of overcoming them, is fundamentally unjust and unsustainable
Contributed by Evan B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.