Dylan Scott’s Wife May Be His Biggest Critic
Dylan Scott just released his new EP Nothing to Do Town, a 6-song follow-up to his eponymous debut, which has been in heavy radio rotation since its emergence in August 2016. The title track is already a certified hit for the 28-year-old and among his most popular on streaming services, where he's amassed more than half a billion streams — almost unheard of in country music, much less for a new country artist.
"I never thought I was stupid or crazy," Scott tells Taste of Country. "But there were times I sat around thinking, 'Is this ever going to happen? Is my music ever going to take off or be heard?'"
Scott signed with Curb Records before he even moved to Nashville. "When I was 16 I started coming to Nashville," Scott says. His dad, who played guitar for the legendary Freddy Fender, knew Dylan wanted a career in music, so he brought him up to town and introduced him to whomever he could. Scott moved to Nashville, deal in hand, just before turning 19.
"When I first moved to this town, I wasn't the same artist I am now," he confesses. "I moved to town trying to be something other than who I am — I was trying to imitate Keith Whitley, and it's like, no, I gotta be who I am."
Watch Jimmie Allen's RISERS Performance of "Make Me Want To"
When Scott finally settled into his own musical skin, he emerged with a handful of tracks that really put him on the map, namely his radio breakthrough "My Girl." Enveloped in squeaky-clean modern production and dripping with the kind of affection emanating from a 10-year relationship, "My Girl" became his first No. 1 and first platinum single.
Like much of Scott's modern music, the song found its muse in his wife, Blair. "We've been together since we were like 15 years old," he says. "I like to write the stuff I've lived."
Which is evident on Nothing to Do Town, a collection of saccharine-sweet love jams, though not all of them are about his wife. The title track is an ode to Bastrop, Louisiana, the 10,000-person town where Scott grew up (and met his wife, if we need to tie it all together).
When he first started writing for his 2016 album, he still spent much of his time writing Monday through Friday in Nashville. With the occasional live gig, of course. Now, Scott and team are so busy playing to thousands of people every night, he brings his go-to writers out on the road with him. They're able to write and record large portions of whatever new song right there on the bus, even emailing friends in Nashville or New York who will record extra parts and send them over in real time.
"By the time we get back, we've got a mostly finished song," he says. "We might go into the studio to record live drums or polish it up a bit, but on the bus we can record pretty much everything."
It's just another sign of modern times and building a career in commercial country music. But Scott says he loves the immediacy of it all, especially when fans can get their hands on music so quickly. Case in point: his new song, "Nobody."
"I don't know what it is about the song, I just know when we wrote it, the message was so simple and it was so groovy," he says. "Even a year after writing it I'm still so excited; it's only been out a few few weeks and the crowd is already singing it back to us."
And Scott still looks to his wife for the brutally honest feedback. "If it's not good, she'll tell me real quick," he admits, laughing. "Even if I come home and I'm super excited about a song I'll play it and she might be like, 'Baby, that's not very good.' But if it's good she'll tell me, too. She'll tell me straight up. I've got an honest one, so that's good."
Now that he's able to bring his co-writers out on the road with him, he says the next goal is to be able to bring another bus for his family. "That's the goal, it's like, 'Let's work hard so we can get them out here and they can enjoy doing what I'm doing,'" he says.
The clock is ticking, because his family is about to increase by one. Blair is pregnant with their second child and first daughter, and she might be handling the parenting thing a little more smoothly sometimes.
"I still freak out," Scott says. "The other day the dog hit our son Beckett and he fell and hit his face on the concrete and I'm the parent that's freaking out. My heart's hurting. My wife is just like, 'It's ok, just give him to me.' She's chill."
11 Songs That Changed Modern Country Music: