i am fortunate to play with amazing musicians - always have had my ear to the 6 winds to assess players and their strengths and the music we would make...
electric or acoustic, 2 or 5 people, country, folk, blues, string players, grass,
rocking, quiet or loud - WHATEVER the category does not matter (as it is just a category) - there has always been a group of great musicians near to help me get there - and yes, i am lucky

on this recording MATT FLINNER (mando and banjo), SHAD COBB (fiddle)
and BRYN DAVIES (double bass) & ALL folks on vocals and me on dobro/piano/banjo and guitar -mostly ben bullington's 1933 D18- we had been playing anytime a festival wanted a fiddle/banjo/mando/double bass/acoustic guitar instrumentation sound from me- in one way, it can easily be called "bluegrass" -( not a big stretch )- i kinda think "string band " is as good or a better name (certainly less used)... so enter this DARRELL SCOTT STRING BAND
(a rose by any other name)

HERE'S HOW THIS RECORD CAME ABOUT- we had 2 consecutive weekend gigs (arkansas and colorado) and rather than sending us all back home, in between weekends, i kept us out the following week days in a band house in louisville, colorado (so we could walk to moxie bakery every morning) and drive to boulder every day to record

SO
for 3 days (with only a playlist of the songs sent to each player) and a call to my friend and great musician, nick forster, to use Etown studio in boulder, we were ready to render

what you hear is what we heard at the end of those 3 days of tracking and singing
( we added john cowan -voice, daniel de los reyes - percussion and shalom aberle - voice , later)


i wanted to make a BAND RECORD where we sing harmonies, and bring individual tunes (shad BANJO IN THE HOLLER matt RAJI'S ROMP and a matt/drl composition: FRIED TATERS and bryn being her solid foundation bass and harmonies and intro to IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE and then: naming the album)
and more than a tip of the hat to NEW GRASS REVIVAL (2020 IBMA hall of famers)
as they grassed my world decades earlier
(i got the voice of newgrass and friend JOHN COWAN to add his amazing self to 2 tracks) - this project is how we filled in the days between gigs

(some math follows)
songs + players + band house + studio + food and drink = this recording



-edited and produced and cover photo by darrell scott
SONG FOOD STUDIO cumberland plateau, tennessee
-recorded by james tuttle at etown studios, boulder, colorado
-mixed by erick jaskowiak in tasmania, australia
-mastered by richard dodd in nashville
-matt mangano, rachel moore, shalom aberle and daniel de los reyes additional engineers -chris weller art direction
-gabriel scott all other photos
-angela graham scott everything

thank you to paul lohr and all'em at new frontier touring, elaine bryan at MAMBA, mahala, abraham and gabriel for the photos and vids, angel, nick and helen forster, james van dyk,nick angelo, james tuttle, chris weller, KENtucky white, always erick j and richard dodd, stephanie hudacek, rex at northstar truck campers, collings guitar, kopp guitar, d’addario strings, ben bullington, luke yoder, planet bluegrass, shad, matt and bryn (bryn, thanks for the title: OLD CANE BACK ROCKER

darrell