Invisible Man

Darrell Scott | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 27, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Full Light Records
• ASIN: B000FMGTZ8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The compelling and compulsively listenable Darrell Scott is that most unusual of Nashville creators--a songwriter who crafts commercial tunes for such mainstream acts as the Dixie Chicks ("Long Time Gone"), Patty Loveless ("You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive"), and Travis Tritt ("It's a Great Day to Be Alive") and a highly respected Americana recording artist on his own. Equal parts poet, philosopher, and confessor of dark truths, Scott blends wisdom, humor, and social satire, and marries them to jaunty or jaundiced melodies dressed with augmented acoustic instrumentation (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, electric guitar, upright bass) that often evokes an earlier age. The Invisible Man, his sixth record, is perhaps his most intense, emotional, and spiritually searching, but also his most satisfying. His one cover, Stuart Adamson's "Shattered Cross," proves unforgettable in its edgy warnings against a woman who will "empty your pockets and rip out your heart / and leave you the ruins of a life torn apart." But Scott's own restless soul-searching, particularly on "And the River Is Me" and "Hank Williams' Ghost," has a way of connecting to your own. The effect is something akin to meeting a stranger who not only knows your shadow self, but somehow already occupies a place in your heart. Don't be surprised if this witty yet harrowing backwoods muse brings you to your knees. -–Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darrell Scott will hit you where you live, June 30, 2006

By 

C. McQuary (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Invisible Man (Audio CD)

Man. I continue to be blown away by this guy. I'm a huge Tim O'Brien fan, and it was their dual album "Real Time" that got me turned onto Mr. Scott. I still don't know how you would classify his music. Country Artists do his songs but he's not really 'country'. I think his allusion to one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Hank Williams, in this new album, is a fitting comparison. Just like Mr. Williams, Darrell Scott seems to know how to put chords and words together in ways that seem too simple for the cumulative power they have. He creates poetry without affect, and he creates powerful music without pyrotechnics. When you see the chords to some of his best songs, you can't believe they are simple chords that most people know. How does he get that kind of emotional power out of those simple chords? His arrangements on this album do justice to the songs, as they pretty much always do on his albums. This album in particular seems to have more intensity. It's as though Mr. Scott has taken the measure of his soul with an unflinching eye (again), seen where he stands, and picks up a guitar to try to elevate himself. There is a power in this album that is above even the high watermark or his last couple of albums. I was so knocked out by the first song ("Hank William's Ghost") listening to it on the way to work that I wanted to stay on the train and call in sick. I felt like I'd been kicked in the solar plexus. He speaks to real matters of the heart, that real people experience: loss, temptation, being happy with where you are while not being able to lose sight of where you could be or could have been. I say clumsily what he says brilliantly, succinctly. If you like good music, I could not recommend this album strong enough.
Hank Williams wrote songs that continue to be performed by artist of every stripe and genre. People like to record them and sing them because they are Good Songs. Darrell Scott is riding right alongside him.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Full-band blend of country, folk, rock, and jazz flavors, July 4, 2006

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Invisible Man (Audio CD)

Scott is a busy, busy man: an in-demand Nashville string player, vocalist and songwriter whose own "Live in NC" CD accompanied his father's "This Weary Way" just last year, and whose melodies appear on John Cowan's latest release. Scott's music echoes the broad experience he's gained playing with country traditionalists Suzy Boguss and Randy Travis, outlaws Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale, and progressive bluegrassers Sam Bush and Tim O'Brien. His latest retains the electric approach of 2003's "Theatre of the Unheard," sometimes rocking harder than his writing actually requires. The jazz underpinnings of his songs, so prevalent on his trio-based live CD, are occasionally lost amid this full-band context and attendant studio touches.

Still, this is an intriguing blend of Scott's soulful vocals with country, folk, rock and Celtic flavors. The introspective "And the River is Me" pares back the electricity and stretches out to over six minutes, and the pairing of "There's a Stone Around My Belly" and "Shattered Cross" is emphatic in its picking and singing. Scott's lyrics interweave many biographical details, but his poetry often provides obtuse imagery rather than story or character study; more Dylan than Simon in many cases. The verbal impressionism is matched by the complexity of the arrangements, which may challenging for listeners who enjoy more straightforward exposition. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gem Quality, May 28, 2008

By 

blueslover "larrys909" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Invisible Man (Audio CD)

just a superb CD that grows on you with each listen. well crafted songs with very thoughtful lyrics that reveal a lot about Darrell Scott. there's not a clinker in the bunch. very highly recommended. check out The Dreamer, Let's Call It a Life, And the River Is Me.