Customer Reviews

A Crooked Road

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Any true lover of music knows that Darrell Scott is one of the best in the business when it comes to just about everything. As a session musician, his handiwork has graced hundreds of Nashville albums. As a songwriter, his work has been covered by such names as Brad Paisley, Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks, Sara Evans, and Travis Tritt. But it's as an artist that he does his best work.

From the biting, cynical social commentary on "The Day Before Thanksgiving", to a tale of love lost in "Take Me Back To Yesterday", to a love song for one of the most beautiful places in the world, "Colorado", and the heart-on-sleeve closer, "This Beggar's Heart", A Crooked Road is a journey. Every song tells a story. There are no meaningless cuts here, as Scott's passionate vocal delivery makes it very clear that these are deeply personal songs.

Even better is the music. DS played all instruments on this album, so what you find is a masterfully orchestrated blend of the acoustic world and the electric world. Banjos, mandolins, guitars, drums and lap steels all working together to weave a tapestry of sound that likely nobody else in the world could create without the help of many other musicians.

For those in the know, A Crooked Road will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the best albums of 2010. Whether you are a fan of Darrell Scott, or you are interested in finding out what all the hype is about, buy this CD. You will not be disappointed.

While I find it almost impossible to stop listening to tracks over and over again each one so beautiful, this habit makes it very difficult to stop and write coherent thoughts to let everyone know how wonderful this recording is. Darrell Scott gives us songs that give us relationships as they are and relationships as we wish they would be. Do yourself a favor and listen to "This Time 'Round." There's not much in the way of songwriting that gets better than this song. Much time will pass before this record moves from my player.

I heard Scott perform on the radio show Mountain Stage a few months ago, and was impressed enough to look him up online. So often you hear a good song or two and wind up disappointed when you get around to buying the album, but not this time!
I haven't been this blown away by a previously unknown artist (to me) in a long time. Scott's soulful, beautiful songs are from the heart, but no sappy sentimentalism here, and you get more than your money's worth with 15 tracks. Scott deserves recognition alongside the very best singer songwriters ever, with this album alone.

Best record I've heard in this year three-quarters gone--waiting for the new Robbie Robertson like nothing else matters, and here comes this beautifully written, splendidly sung, one-man-band of a treasure...Crooked Road stands straight and tall, filled with humble heart and confident craft, and looks each lyric in the eye...this is as good as wood and steel gets, folks--be kind to yourself and do this thing--you'll be glad you did.

As a retired classically trained music educator and performing acoustic musician, I have long admired DS work without realizing what terrific vocal and dramatic skills aside from the well established sideman and songwritercredits he has. Wow, what soaring voice and what range!!! Too often us instrumentalists are afraid to even try our pipes, we are so comfortable behind a stand or guitar. This is truly a gift to me to hear it.

My ignorance and joy at this new to me discovery is the highlight of this year. "A Crooked Road" will generate several standards in this medium...and I hope will bring lots of royalties for him. This whole cd is to be treasured. After just a week it would be a worn out 45 record of mine in the good old days.

I really look forward to hearing him around, and especially at the annual wonderful Fortune/ Williams Festival Sept 25 in Staunton Va. It is a great fest every year.

Darrell Scott's last release, A Crooked Road, was one of the highlights of the 2010 musical year. His voice is earthy, his guitar playing both soulful and tuneful but it's his writing that brings all of his talent together. The title cut, "A Crooked Road" is probably the most memorable of the Cd's tunes but others like "Long Wide Open Road" makes this set memorable. "For Suzanne" opens with allusions to both Stephen Foster and James Taylor and builds into a fine song on its own merits. It's a pleasure to find a talent like Scott even though he has been writing songs for others, like the Dixie Chicks, for a while. It's a pleasure to meet him on his own terms.

I purchased four copies of this -- to give to people I love. This is a very important piece of work. I feel a responsibility to make sure they hear and experience this.

The Crooked Road is a collection of well crafted and flawlessly performed songs from a guy who's been down the crooked road. This is what song writing is all about. Not a bad song on this two disc set and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

A very solid, contemporary western CD with great vocals by Darrell. It will be an active member of my CD library!

I saw Mr. Scott perform at the Jimmy Fortune Music Festival last month. I really didn't know who he was or what he had done until then. As my mouth hung open at the raw emotion conveyed by his music, I realized I had to have this album. This album is for serious music lovers who love music straight from the soul.
If you get a chance to see him live, don't miss it.