Scott Kirby, Sol Searching, Little Flock Music
I’ve told this story so many times, if you have heard it
before feel free to skip forward a few lines. Back about seven or eight years
ago, I was listening to Radio Margaritaville when I heard – with a nod to Monty Python – “something
completely different”. The lyrics had to do with the beach, but it wasn’t done
by Jimmy Buffett. The RM website didn’t tell me who it was and I listened for
the dj to announce the song but he never did. The same thing happened the next
half dozen or so times I heard it – but each time I would stop whatever I was
doing and listen, transfixed by the lyrics about living by blue water –
something I have had the opportunity to do a couple of times, only to get
yanked back to reality way before I felt it was time. I long to do it again
someday and I wore the words of the song like a dream coat. Eventually, I found
out the song was called “Lucky Enough” by Scott Kirby. I have had the good
fortune to see Scott perform several times – interviewed him for my blog, Beaches,
Bands & Bars. Not only do I credit him (and Radio Margaritaville) for
opening my eyes and ears to the world of Trop Rock, but Scott remains one of my
favorite Trop Rock performers – and that song, “Lucky Enough”, still sits on my
list of favorite songs of all time... “I’ll raise my glass, you can kiss my old
ass” indeed.
Fast forward to 2013 and Scott’s latest cd, Sol Searching. It’s his sixth studio outing
– seventh overall, counting his live “Night On The Beach” cd. And, once again,
it’s full of reflections on the turning of one’s calendar pages and the desire
to find that place in your life that makes YOU happy, where you’re “Lucky
Enough”. But, unlike some artists who tend to focus on the partying side of our
annual trip around the sun – the “bright and shiny” - Scott’s songs tend
towards the wistful and introspective. But, not in a negative sense. I made the
observation to Scott once that, at first listen his lyrics may sound “glass
half empty”, he is really an optimist. He seemed surprised by that but thought
some more and finally said, “I guess you’re right!”. It’s the difference
between writing about the rainbow and writing about the guy holding the empty
pot at the other end, waiting for it to get filled with Gold. And, if only a
few coins fall in it’s ok, as long as you’re near someone you love – and blue
water. The opening track is a great example, “Turning Of The Tide”. Featuring a
melancholy harmonica and gentle piano, it includes lines like “Days go by and
how time flies…” and “Baby we were born to be in a shanty down by the sea…cause
folks like us were meant to live in small houses”. But, like many of Scott’s
songs, it isn’t about giving up, it’s about acceptance, and finding fulfillment
in those things that make you smile. In “Turning”, once the singer accepts that
“the big new place, you see, it was never meant to be” he lays his head down to
get a good night’s sleep.
Next up is the title track, with its play on words (Sol
being the Spanish word for Sun). Cut
from similar cloth, musically, with a saxophone substituting for harmonica,
“Sol Searching” immediately makes me want to pack up the car and drive
somewhere whenever I hear it - Anywhere there are boats bobbing on the water. “Pick
up the pieces, pick up the pace…when all you want to do is feel the sun on your
face” and “When you wake stark mad in the middle of the night…southwind
whispers, baby, book that flight”. If I ever get a boat, I want to name it Sol
Searching.
Although Scott spends a lot of time in Key West and the bar
in which he’s a co-owner, the Smokin’ Tuna, he splits his year between there
and his “home port” in New England. Several songs on Sol Searching pay homage
to those roots, including track three, “Any Old Town In New England”. A clap
along rocker, the focus is on Beantown but places like Nantucket Sound and
Narragansett Bay also get name dropped. ”Vineyard” (the only track on the cd
not written by Scott) and the closing number, “Old Beach House” also take the
listener to the Northeastern US – the latter an especially poignant song about
respecting where you come from that could have just as easily been recorded by
the late, great John Denver. “Life is not a perfect thing, it’s tattered and
it’s torn, like the curtains in this old beach house the wooden steps so worn.
But, when it’s all been said and done we do the best we can and pray for one
more perfect day…”
I have used words like wistful, melancholy, and poignant to
describe Scott Kirby’s music but he is no sour puss. As I said earlier, his
songs brim with an understated optimism - and more than a little humor. “Guys
Like Us”, for instance, explores the chemistry between crazy women and the
fellas who fall for them, “You Better Believe Her!” is about – well, crazy
women (“If she tells you she’s bat shit crazy you better believe her”) and
“Whiskey” is a funky, bluesy love letter to that golden spirit.
I can’t review a Scott Kirby cd without mentioning the
sound. While some Trop Rockers opt for the lo-fi approach, letting electronics
substitute for real musicians (generally due to limited budget), Kirby cds, Sol
Searching included, are full-on professional productions, with strings, brass
and lots of top notch guests. Peter Mayer lends backing vocals and the All-Star
rhythm section of Russ Kunkel and Leland Sklar (Bob Dylan,
Neil Young,
Stevie Nicks,
Carole King,
Jackson
Browne, Linda Ronstadt) lend a hand on “Guys Like Us”.
Another outstanding outing from a true singer/songwriter.
Now, excuse me while I pour a glass of rum, settle in to my comfy chair… and do
a little “Sol Searching”. For more on Scott and his music, www.scottkirby.com
