Best New Music

Album Premiere: Darrell Scott, Couchville Sessions

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A deft lyricist who works in the idioms of folk, blues and classic country, singer-songwriter Darrell Scott has always been a quintessential Americana artist, long before Americana became the inflationary coin of the realm in alternative Nashville.

In his long and variegated career, the Kentucky-born Scott has seen hisย songs covered by more than 70 artists, from Travis Tritt to Keb โ€˜Mo to Mary Gauthier. In addition, heโ€™s recorded nine studio albums as a solo artist, all the while working as an in-demand Nashville session player. He was also hand-picked by Robert Plant to join his Band of Joy in 2012.

This month, Scott returns with the sterling Couchville Sessions, a full-length studio offering sporting nine originals and five covers, including Hank Williamsโ€™ โ€œRamblinโ€™ Man,โ€ Johnny Cashโ€™s โ€œBig River,โ€ and Townes Van Zandtโ€™s โ€œLoretta.โ€ The opening track, “Down To The River,” a Scott original, features a spoken-word outro by none other than country-folk legend Guy Clark, who spins a tale about a crow’s nest made out of barbed-wire heย once stumbled uponย in a windmill derrick.

Of the cover songs on the album, Scott says, “These are songs by some of my heroes.ย Sometimes I choose them to lighten the seriousness of an album, and sometimes I use a cover to go even heavier. I love to mix chemicals in an album.โ€

Stream Couchville Sessions below and enjoy theย chemical mix.

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