The evolution of a musician is a tricky one.
Often the story goes like this. You catch the musical bug at a young age, likely go through the high school band routine, then you either decide you’re all in, or you find another path. And if you’re all in, what is your true path, to go with a band, or go solo? And will you beat the odds and make it?Tricky to say the least.
For Eric Scott, growing up in Prince George’s County MD, like anywhere, meant you had to find your own path to your dream, and his was music. Since then, he has established himself as a consummate pro, dabbling in his solo work but primarily finding success as a band member and collaborator. Until now.
The urge to really branch out on his own, really take the big plunge, really go for it, has always been what has kept Scott going. He relishes everything that’s happened to date, but giving his solo career a real run for the money is what he yearns for the most. And it appears his time has come.
“I’ve never toured on my own and that is my goal,” said Scott, who launches his new EP The Charm City Sessions with two shows at Blues Alley on June 25th. “My goal is to get out of this area and take my music into other parts of the country and overseas if possible. It’s really the last thing that I have left to do. I know it’s a difficult thing to establish yourself as an original touring artist, but it’s a goal of mine and that’s what I really want to do. That’s the next step in my musical evolution I feel.”
Scott really got things rolling musically in 1994, when after years of being a weekend warrior and doing the typical cover band circuit, he took a gamble, and said all or nothing. And that was the beginning of what is now a 25-year run that only seems to be gaining steam.
“Someone pointed this out to me, and I was unaware of it, that this year is my 25 year anniversary of being a professional musician. I didn’t even realize it. In ’94 I decided to start playing full time, and it started with just getting a couple of midweek gigs, you know, little duo gigs at a Chinese restaurant, whatever, and I thought to myself, ‘If I could play four times a week I could pay my bills.’ So that’s what I did, I got a couple little weekday duo gigs and I played on the weekends like I always had. I was able to do that for several years. I started playing with Deanna Bogart in 1995 and toured the world with her, while also starting to write more and become more of an original musician.”
Scott remembers with fondness where his musical self derived from, it was due in large part to his mother’s extensive album collection, a familiar thread for many lifelong musicians. It was there amidst the vinyl where he became entranced with music, from the liner notes to the music from the black circle itself.
“From the earliest time I can remember, I just was always in my own little musical world. As a kid, I was raised by a single mom, and she had an incredible record collection and I just listened to albums on my little turntable and that was my playground, you know? I just melted into it. I read the album covers, and read the lyrics, just stared at the album covers. I wondered how it must be to be Elton John and blah, blah, blah.”
Scott released his first record Divine Static in 1999, but after releasing his fourth album Where The Water Runs Deepest in 2012, he took what has proven to be a surprising yet valuable seven-year hiatus.
“I didn’t think it would take quite that long,” Scott said. “The last record that I did was really more of a purging kind of record for me. It was more acoustic and I really went pretty deep subject matter wise and dealt with some things that I had not dealt with in song before. I just think it took a while for that to just flush itself out of my system before I was able to write happy songs again.”
For his new The Charm City Sessions EP, Scott wanted to dial it up a notch and evolve a bit from his more recent efforts, while also doing it with a nod to the traditional styles of recording.
“Evolve is a good word, I feel like you need to evolve as a musician and coming from the last record I did, which was more acoustic based and more singer songwriter, I wanted to make a soul pop record that kind of leaned old school and shined a light on my love of ’60s and ’70s soul, right down to some of the recording techniques and just the preservation of it but also with my own modern twist on it. I think that’s another reason it took me so long to record between 2012 and now because I was really just trying to get a vision of what I want to do and I think it came into shape with Charm City Sessions and the record that’s coming after that, Peace Bomb, just modern soul music that leans old school but it’s really upbeat and fun, you know?”
For Eric Scott, his evolution has come to this moment, and he is ready to take the next leap in his now quarter century career. And with a huge amount of talent and a host of critical and fan acclaim providing the pavement, Scott is taking his music out on the road of musical devotion, hoping his journey has only just begun.
“I feel like I’m at a place where I’m truly ready to evolve to the next step, and the next step after that. I just want to get out and play, and keep writing, and hopefully the stuff that I have set to release this year will find legs and find an audience, and I’ll just keep on going. I’m grateful to be able to do it. I’ve been incredibly lucky, incredibly fortunate. Sometimes I look back and I don’t know how I’ve managed to do it for 25 years and stay busy, but it’s really a blessing. I still enjoy doing it. So it is exciting, you know?”
Eric Scott performs two shows at 8pm and 10pm on Tuesday June 25th at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW Washington, DC 20007. For tickets, click here.