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Auburn Annie · 08-24-2008, 12:23 PM

tennessean.com

August 24, 2008

Songwriter Darrell Scott releases collection of 'modern hymns'

BY BILL FRISKICS-WARREN
STAFF WRITER

"Covers records" — albums where singers perform songs written by others — have been popping up all over the place lately. Still, it's likely to strike some as odd that Darrell Scott, an award-winning songwriter who has supplied major hits to everyone from Tim McGraw to the Dixie Chicks, also has gotten in on the act.

"I get the irony that I'm a 'Nashville songwriter' who does a covers record," he said, sitting in the dining room of his Hillsboro-Belmont home, talking about his sublime new album, Modern Hymns. "That sort of stuff doesn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, I like it."

Entirely acoustic and featuring cameos from the likes of Del McCoury, Alison Krauss and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Scott's album consists solely of spiritually themed material from the pens of such masters as Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan.

Released last week by Appleseed Recordings, the project was born of a list of tunes Scott had been keeping in some form or other since he was a teenager in northwest Indiana.

"These songs and these artists were influencing me even before I could do this stuff," he said, referring to writing and playing music. "This was the work that was moving me the most when I was a kid, and later, a budding artist."

Spiritual to the core

As the title of Scott's record suggests, spiritual concerns lie at the heart of the songs he chose to interpret for the project. Far from sectarian or dogmatic, though, the material on Modern Hymns is more humanistic in tone than anything else.

"Part of what I like about the songs is that they're not clothed in any sort of church or religious thing," he said. "Exploring themes like these is just part of being an artist. That's what unites these songs, the human experience of it."

More than just a testament to the evocative and enduring work of a short-list of his heroes, Scott's album also makes a case for songwriting — at least as practiced by the artists represented on Modern Hymns — as a spiritual discipline akin to prayer or meditation.

"For me, the writing is a sacred space in itself, and I've always been mindful of not wanting to corrupt that space," he explained.

"I don't want to be precious about it, but writing has a kind of confessional/therapy/spiritual quality to it for me. And usually, you can tell whether you've told the truth or not. Because after it's done, outside of the heat of the moment of the writing, you can go back and look at it from different angles and see how well the work has told the truth. To me that's the spiritual aspect."

The songs could handle it

Scott was determined to offer a fresh take on the dozen songs that made it onto his album. Working with a core trio including Danny Thompson on upright bass and Dirk Powell on old-timey banjo, Scott, who plays guitar and sings, re-imagined Joni Mitchell's "Urge for Going" as a bluegrass tune.

"I've always heard it that way," he said of the song's string band arrangement, vocal harmonies (featuring the high tenor of Del McCoury) and 2/4 beat. "It's a great departure from Tom Rush's version, but I knew the song could handle it."

Scott and company do something similar with their gorgeous take on Paul Simon's "American Tune," while Bob Dylan's sometimes-neglected "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" is rendered as a waltzing sea chantey. Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc," meanwhile, gets the atmospheric treatment, courtesy of several members of Orchestra Nashville and the riveting, world-weary vocals of singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier.

Opening the album is Gordon Lightfoot's "All the Lovely Ladies," a song that Scott deems "a great call to worship."

"The song is a prayer, even by definition," he explained. "It's asking, in the choruses, for blessings.

"But it's also appropriate that it's Gordon Lightfoot," he went on to say, "because he was my first discovery outside of country music as a kid. And that's why I ended the record with Guy Clark, because he's more in the later part of my influences. So in a way, this record is my own little journey toward artistry."

08-24-2008, 12:23 PM	#1
Auburn Annie Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Upstate New York Posts: 3,101	"All the Lovely Ladies" cover tennessean.com August 24, 2008 Songwriter Darrell Scott releases collection of 'modern hymns' BY BILL FRISKICS-WARREN STAFF WRITER "Covers records" — albums where singers perform songs written by others — have been popping up all over the place lately. Still, it's likely to strike some as odd that Darrell Scott, an award-winning songwriter who has supplied major hits to everyone from Tim McGraw to the Dixie Chicks, also has gotten in on the act. "I get the irony that I'm a 'Nashville songwriter' who does a covers record," he said, sitting in the dining room of his Hillsboro-Belmont home, talking about his sublime new album, Modern Hymns. "That sort of stuff doesn't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, I like it." Entirely acoustic and featuring cameos from the likes of Del McCoury, Alison Krauss and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Scott's album consists solely of spiritually themed material from the pens of such masters as Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan. Released last week by Appleseed Recordings, the project was born of a list of tunes Scott had been keeping in some form or other since he was a teenager in northwest Indiana. "These songs and these artists were influencing me even before I could do this stuff," he said, referring to writing and playing music. "This was the work that was moving me the most when I was a kid, and later, a budding artist." Spiritual to the core As the title of Scott's record suggests, spiritual concerns lie at the heart of the songs he chose to interpret for the project. Far from sectarian or dogmatic, though, the material on Modern Hymns is more humanistic in tone than anything else. "Part of what I like about the songs is that they're not clothed in any sort of church or religious thing," he said. "Exploring themes like these is just part of being an artist. That's what unites these songs, the human experience of it." More than just a testament to the evocative and enduring work of a short-list of his heroes, Scott's album also makes a case for songwriting — at least as practiced by the artists represented on Modern Hymns — as a spiritual discipline akin to prayer or meditation. "For me, the writing is a sacred space in itself, and I've always been mindful of not wanting to corrupt that space," he explained. "I don't want to be precious about it, but writing has a kind of confessional/therapy/spiritual quality to it for me. And usually, you can tell whether you've told the truth or not. Because after it's done, outside of the heat of the moment of the writing, you can go back and look at it from different angles and see how well the work has told the truth. To me that's the spiritual aspect." The songs could handle it Scott was determined to offer a fresh take on the dozen songs that made it onto his album. Working with a core trio including Danny Thompson on upright bass and Dirk Powell on old-timey banjo, Scott, who plays guitar and sings, re-imagined Joni Mitchell's "Urge for Going" as a bluegrass tune. "I've always heard it that way," he said of the song's string band arrangement, vocal harmonies (featuring the high tenor of Del McCoury) and 2/4 beat. "It's a great departure from Tom Rush's version, but I knew the song could handle it." Scott and company do something similar with their gorgeous take on Paul Simon's "American Tune," while Bob Dylan's sometimes-neglected "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" is rendered as a waltzing sea chantey. Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc," meanwhile, gets the atmospheric treatment, courtesy of several members of Orchestra Nashville and the riveting, world-weary vocals of singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier. Opening the album is Gordon Lightfoot's "All the Lovely Ladies," a song that Scott deems "a great call to worship." "The song is a prayer, even by definition," he explained. "It's asking, in the choruses, for blessings. "But it's also appropriate that it's Gordon Lightfoot," he went on to say, "because he was my first discovery outside of country music as a kid. And that's why I ended the record with Guy Clark, because he's more in the later part of my influences. So in a way, this record is my own little journey toward artistry."