Darrell Scott. Michael Weintrob photo
At age 66, legendary singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott is having a career rebirth of sorts.
Though he’s always been known as a prolific and productive artist—whether in Nashville musical circles as a performer and producer or endless touring from coast-to-coast and beyond—this current chapter of his storied life has evolved into a full circle kind of thing, one where Scott is evaluating just what it means to create and cultivate in your autumn years.
Known as one of Nashville’s premier session musicians, Scott has written/co-written a slew of hit songs over the decades—Travis Tritt’s “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive,” The Chicks’ “Long Time Gone,” Garth Brooks’ “When There’s No One Around,” Sara Evans’ “Born to Fly”—has been Grammy-nominated four times aside from numerous other recognitions, including the 2025 Americana Music Honors “Lifetime Achievement Award.” He’s also collaborated with Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Sam Bush, and countless others.
Scott caught up with Smoky Mountain Living and spoke at length about this current juncture of his life, the trajectory of his whirlwind career, and what it means to be a songwriter in the modern era.
As a songwriter and musician, what’s been your thought process as you’ve approached this age?
Well, oddly enough, I think I spent a couple of years wondering if I should just turn all this down and just stay out at my farm. But, in fact, I’m more energized than I’ve been in decades about music, projects, playing music and new ideas. So, when I was very much considering toning it all down, I’m doing the opposite. I’m working on [all kinds of] records right now. For whatever reason, I’m more energized than ever.
Well, it’s a whole other chapter that is unwritten.
Yeah. And that’s the way I feel. But you know, for a while, I didn’t know if I was just old and in the way. But, it’s just not the truth. I have a lot more to say. I have a lot more music to put out and for some reason I’ve got the energy. It seems like I’ve got the green light on all of that. I’m just going with all that stuff and then putting out more music and videos. We’re kind of going after it just because the energy seems to be there.
It comes down to such a simple thing—this is what you do and what you love, so why not?
Yeah. I finally turned that corner. I’m working on more things than any other period of my life. I can’t even think of anything that comes close and, very specifically, to it also being me putting out my own records. I’ve never done so much for myself than what I’m doing right now.
Do you think that was the inevitable, as in that’s just how things roll out?
It is that. And the other thing, it’s like Sherlock Holmes, where he was about the “science of deduction.” So, I deduced the things I don’t want to do. I get them out of the way and then all that’s left is the stuff I want to do. And right now, it’s about working on my own stuff and not really kind of watering it down by playing with other folks or being in their bands or being a studio musician in Nashville. Putting out a working on my own music—it’s really detoxifying.
And there has to be intrinsic value with that.
There is. I think that’s where this energy of working harder on this stuff than I ever have, is coming from. It’s because I don’t really have the other stuff to be working on. I mean, it’s not that I’m sitting around, but I have to do away with the things I’m not going to spend my time on. And that leaves me with the things that I’m going to monkey with.
But, then what does that also reveal to you as your purpose as not only a musician, but an artist, in general?
Well, I would say it’s about time on one level, and then on the other hand, you could say, “Why didn’t I do this when I was 20 or 30?” [Back then], I always sort of had four or five irons in the fire—a session life, a songwriting life or road life, a family life. I get to work on what I want to work on. Something has basically given me full permission to just do this and, silently, I’m listening.
What is the role of the songwriter in the 21st century, in the digital age?
I think it moves around. I think for some it’s to write to have hits. For others, it’s to talk and comment about what’s going on in our world—the social, the political, the environmental, the emotional side of humanity.
So, the good news is it’s a bunch of things, there’s no one thing that it is. Some people will be chasing the hits and others will be trying to write about their mother that they lost when they were six years old.
Of course, my leaning is toward the latter. They’re writing about something that means something to you. That’s a very important expression to make. I’m way more interested in the expression than the hit climbing style.
It’s about making a connection about the human condition with another human being.
Yeah. And that’d be great. I mean, sometimes hits do that, too. But, it’s about the intention. I don’t think there’s one answer to it, but I’m really trying to answer that as to what I want to say and do as a songwriter—a maker of albums and makers of shows, of travel and all that stuff. It’s becoming more personal to me. It always was, but now I’m not confused at all about that.
Want to go?
The Darrell Scott String Band (featuring Rob Ickes) will hit the stage at the 25th annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, which will take place Sept. 11-13 in the heart of downtown Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia. Other headlining acts to appear include Sierra Ferrell, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Los Lobos, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, The War and Treaty, The Del McCoury Band, Braxton Keith, Mon Rovia, Clay Street Unit, Jim Lauderdale & The Game Changers, Acoustic Syndicate and many more. bristolrhythm.com.