Darrell Scott

Darrell Scott's compositions have been recorded by an impressive roster of country heavyweights led by Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans. Yet the majority of these covers were used as album cuts, not singles, for reasons made clear by The Invisible Man, Scott's new solo CD for Full Light Records. Throughout the disc, Scott rejects the sort of easy sentimentality that radio programmers understand in favor of notably complex lyrical treatments that often end unhappily. "Hank Williams's Ghost" is exemplified by the line "Take one last breath and fade to black," while "And the River Is Me" delves into the mind of a despairing narrator who's emotionally drained and overflowing with regrets about practically everything in his past, including books he never read and a career he failed to pursue. The disc often makes for uneasy listening -- but it also feels far more authentic than what passes for hot country these days. Scott, who joins Ladysmith Black Mambazo for a taping of e-town, is a deep-tracks guy, in more ways than one.