 Courtesy of the Artist Singer-songwriter Scott Low has been writing and performing for a long time, dabbling in many genres including punk, jazz, bluegrass, rock, blues, folk, and Americana. Playing over 200 shows a year, the Georgia native is gearing up to release his full-length debut, The New Vintage, on June 17th. Prior to its release, Low graciously took the time to talk about the record, going from a sad bastard to writing hopeful songs and more. You studied jazz and have been in blues and folk bands, so how did you end up a solo Americana singer-songwriter? I kind of began here when I was real young with Dylan, Hendrix, and Buddy Guy. Eventually, I got into jazz and went to school for that, but I got bored and wanted to have more interaction and attachment to my hobby. I started playing guitar in Betsy Franck’s band and as I watched her do her thing she gave me a foundation for songwriting. I actually didn't start singing and songwriting until I started my band Efren. I loved that band but there were so many changing members it began to feel like the Eagles where I was the only original member. So I decided to go it alone and make a solo record. That record, The New Vintage, is releasing June 17th and you have said is you best record yet. This is the first LP where I went into the studio with twenty or so songs and said, “Okay, let’s lay these things down and hopefully we get a record.” I’ve only been writing for six or seven years, but I feel like I started to figure it out. And seeing these other guys like Sturgill Simpson, Isbell, and Stapleton - the latter two are guys I've played shows with - lay out this template, be successful and win Grammys without being on the radio, was encouraging. I was already in that Americana ballpark and decided to just try and make a record that might turn some heads.  Some artists buckle down and write for a record and others draw from things they had previously written. How did you approach writing for the record?
I’m always writing, and now co-writing, and had about half of the record written over a year before, but had another half that I needed to sit down and finish up. There’s a mixture of both first-hand experience songs, like “Going Home Alone,” along with songs written from the third person, like “Body Bag” and “Mr. Gold & the Jesters” which is a gambling song, on the record. As for the recording, the band came in the studio for eight hours and I had Aubrey and Justin Eisenman from The Clydes and Betsy Franck come in and sing background vocals. Aubrey sings on the first part of the record - she’s a classic country Loretta Lynn singer, while Betsy, who sings on the second half, has more of a gospel-blues voice. Other than the band and those ladies, I did everything else myself. The opening track is “Back to The River.” Is there any significance to that song being placed first? “Back to the River” was actually the last song written for the record, but it’s probably the most complete song to me. One of the first articles written about the record said some of the songs were real head scratchers, that you had to think about what I was writing about. I feel like this song is all metaphors and analogies, which is something I pulled from Dylan. The song itself has nothing to do with a physical river, although now I’ve become a fly fishing junkie, it’s more about getting back to what’s good, what makes life good and what really is the true foundation of happiness. I feel like that was how I wanted to open the record; it’s a complete song instrumentally and then the chorus comes in and you just feel it. It’s also a song that was written with intention. Recently, I moved from Athens to a place one-and-a-half hours north and there’s been this new perspective of finding happiness in the beauty that surrounds us and not getting caught up in the concrete jungle. That’s really the main theme of the record. I feel like shit can be horrible, but we have the power to find our own happiness and change our perspective. Absolutely agree. So are you happier as a result of the move? Hell yeah. I love Athens, but it’s a college town with a big bar scene - which I was a big part of until about two years ago when I realized it was dragging me down. So my buddy and I quit drinking together and have had one other’s backs through it all. Now there was a lot of transitioning from Athens to the nature filled mountains, but I love my life and would challenge anyone that I have a better life than they do. I live in the mountains with my beautiful wife, I fish, boat, write and play songs for a living. There is an unavoidable beauty and no way for me to not like it. Sounds idyllic. There are quite a few songs on the album about love and I wanted to ask about one in particular, “Angel in White.” Is there a story behind that song relating to your wife? It’s a crazy story. We used to work together in Athens, but when I went to pursue Efren, we parted ways but eventually found one another on Facebook and started hanging out. I had written “Angel in White” - a song about how we were going to get married - a month into our relationship as a Valentine’s Day present. It’s crazy because I have this tendency to write songs about the future and what I want to happen…. which is not how it usually works(laughing). A lot of people have told me that they love that song and “Kiss You Again,” which I wrote about my wife after we broke up for a while. It’s funny, I don’t know where this hopeful perspective comes from. Maybe it’s because I wrote so many sad bastard songs on the last Efren record, which was like my divorce record. I got tired of that being that sad bastard though and I’m much happier now. That’s what love can do for you. The album is titled The New Vintage. What does that mean and why did you choose that as the title? I recorded the album in mountains with Leslie Watts who is this crazy mad scientist who has held dozens of patents and builds guitars and furniture. Out of college in the 70’s, he was designing microphones and so we kind of traded, I went to his house to record and he used it for a mic demo. He uses all analog; there’s no auto-tune and none of that BS you hear on the radio which was perfect because I wanted to make a record that was authentic and how it used to be. We tracked everything live, doing takes until we got it right, getting back to that vintage sound and true, real music. For the most part, these songs are the experiences that I’ve lived, not some songs I bought from somebody. I’m not singing about trucks and girls. This is real, this is the new vintage. That said, the songs probably won’t be on the radio, but I would rather be Townes Van Zandt than Tom Jones. I’d rather be a songwriter than a pop star. I’d rather play for ten people who care about the music than ten thousand who don’t give a damn. Find him on Facebook and ReverbNation Pre-order The New Vintage here
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