Louisiana native country artist, Dylan Scott is currently touring the U.S. on his successful headlining run with some support dates with Chris Young on his ‘Raised On Country’ Tour and fans are adoring his energy-filled performances. Scott also is topping the charts and dominating radio stations across the globe with his latest single “Nothing To Do Town” that is guaranteed to make you sing along. Scott talked his musical hero Keith Whitley, his new tribute EP ‘An Old Memory’ and much more with us which you can read in our interview below.
You’ve been killing out on the road doing your own headlining shows and some support dates with Chris Young on his ‘Raised On Country’ Tour, What is your favorite part of being on the road?
My favorite part of performing on the road is just the crowd, the energy that they bring, it is at their mercy. If they come and they are just not energized its like oh man this is not great but lately the crowds energy have been so awesome and the more they sing the more hype I get and the more I enjoy the show. My favorite part of tour is just walking on stage and getting the crowd going.
What was it about Keith Whitley and his music that inspired you, making him your musical hero?
In the beginning, when I was a small kid, it was the tone of his voice. That’s what got me first, but as I grew older it was his melodies and as I got older and started to write, it was his lyrics. He was just the whole package, but in the beginning, it was just his voice and the tone of it. Just how smooth his voice was…even as a kid I could tell he was such a great singer.
How did the recording process go for this EP and how did it feel to record the album in the same studio (The Sound Emporium) that Keith Whitley recorded many of his original songs at?
So, we were in there looking at log books. The log books at Sound Emporium were just dates of when people had recorded there. The same week that we were in there recording, and this was all by chance, we didn’t schedule this at all, but we started looking at the books and Keith was in there the same week doing some of the same songs that we were redoing. That was literally in April we were doing that and a few weeks later, May 9th, he had died. That was kind of crazy and spooky! The fact that we were in there doing it at the same time.
What was it like to bring in Keith Whitley’s son Jesse Keith Whitley to record on “Tell Lorrie I Love Her” with Lorrie Morgan?
I was worried about that in the beginning. I really wanted their grace on it. I wanted their support behind it and I got more than that. The fact that they said “you have our support” and then to come in and sing on it – that was the whole deal for me. To have Lorrie, literally us standing and singing into the same mic Tell Lorrie I Love Her, was honestly one of the coolest moments of my life.
How does it feel to be able to honor such an icon in country music with an album and to know that your demo cover of Whitley’s song “Between An Old Memory and Me” ultimately was what got you a record deal and attention of your manager? Is it a full circle moment for you?
It still strikes me as crazy! I started coming to town when I was 16 and met a guy named Charlie Craig and had no idea who he was. Started writing with him and come to find out he was a co-writer on “Between An Old Memory And Me.” So, Instantly I was like ‘Oh this dude… he’s it!’ I was such a young kid, but it is crazy! I went in and recorded that demo and that demo got me my record deal and from there, when I did my Opry debut, I got to play that song. Just to have this tribute album called An Old Memory, it’s full circle. It’s a cool moment.
Yes, it is a full circle moment for me, it is an amazing feeling to do something like this. This whole project is a thank you to Keith Whitley for inspiring me to get into music. On another way to look at it is just to keep his legacy going to kids or maybe to people who maybe don’t know his music at all or that much.
You released your EP, Nothing To Do Town, earlier this year in April. Could you tell us a bit about this EP? What inspired the EP title?
“Nothing To Do Town” the EP and the single was really inspired about where I grew up, There’s really not much going on there and not much to do. It was a great place to grow up and I love going back but if you were to drive through, you’d ask yourself and the people what do you do here, what do you do for fun in this town. That is where where “Nothing To Do Town” came from, it was just my hometown.
We have been following your ‘Charles Butler’ prank calls on Instagram and they are absolutely hilarious. What artist do you hope to prank call next and what inspired the idea?
**LAUGHS** Begins to impersonate the Charle Butler character. First of all I don’t know Charle Butler came from, we were doing a podcast and it was totally random, I just made the name up and the character up on the spot and it was kind of stuck like I enjoyed it. It has been a lot of fun doing it, I don’t know who’s gonna be next but they are gonna be more. Even if its not an artist, even if we just dial a random number and Charles Butler is calling them but it’s been a lot of fun.
We know that you are a big fitness guru and that you have your own pre-workout, Rise Up, How did you make this happen and what would be some fitness tips for those fans who want to get more into it?
Yeah, I have been in fitness for awhile, it’s just kind of my get away when i’m on the road or at home, it’s just something to clear my mind and think a little bit. The Rise Up pre-workout basically there are a lot of pre-workouts on the market and some are really good or some are really bad and I just kind of wanted one that I knew what I wanted in it and knew what I wanted it to do like give me energy, focus and pump. So I reached out to a manufacturer, talked to them for a year to get it right and we finally got it right. What is really cool is that fans are showing up to shows and saying ‘hey man I brought your pre-workout and it’s the best I’ve ever had’ and saying it does this and that, there is no crash or jitters. That’s what I wanted, I wanted to create a quality product that I wouldn’t only take but everybody else would as well.
How do you stay fit on the road?
The road life is tough because you never know if you’re going to have healthy food around or if it’s just gonna be McDonalds so that’s another reason why I work out cause I have to. One night you can be eating out at McDonalds or you’re eating Taco Bell and it’s just the way it is which is the reason why I work out so that I can do all of that. But I usually wake up in the morning on the bus and there is already a gym that I could goto or I Google a place nearby and I just show up and spend an hour or so there.
If you had to present your music to a new fan who wasn’t familiar with your music yet, what song from your entire discography would you showcase first to a new fan and why?
Oh that is a tough one, I think that if it’s a new fan that’s never heard of me or my music before, I’d probably show them “My Girl” first and I could also say ‘oh look this song was a number one song on the radio and on the charts’ that may get their attention but then I don’t know cause after that I’d probably play something that I written here recently that is not out yet that I just wrote a few weeks ago that’s not out yet. I don’t know the correct answer to that though.
Do you feel like when you’re writing, is your newest song always what you’re most excited about?
Not necessarily, I mean if I write a song a lot of times, I will just walk out and I’m like ‘umm its okay’ I am not that guy that’s like every song I write is a smash, you just never know. I mean honestly, the last song I’ve written, yeah I love it, I think it’s awesome but the one before that was alright, and the one before that was okay. But you do tend to go towards the new stuff that’s for sure.
After writing for so many years, do you have a meter or just know like this is something that I am just so proud of?
Yes and No, With “Nobody,” I knew immediately as we were writing it, we hadn’t even gotten to the chorus yet and I knew this is gonna be great, we got something here. But with “Nothing To Do Town” I had to live with it for several weeks before finally I was like what is wrong with me yes, this is a great song. I had my buddies calling saying dude what is wrong with you man that song is great. Sometimes you just got to live with it, it’s not because it’s a bad song but its just cause it could’ve be the writing process or a struggle or where you were when you wrote it, for me it’s all about perspective sometimes and I got to get that out of my head and go hey this is a good song.
Your wife is a meter to right?
Huge meter, shell tell me real quick like um I don’t really like that and very blunt about it but she’ll also tell me hey I love this you got to record it, so I use her as a big part of it.
When you kids get older, I found to that kids just know great songs?
Oh yeah, I was thinking about that the other day even with my son, if a song comes on and he’s jamming to it usually its a pretty good song.
Where can fans find you online?
Website // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
Pick up Dylan Scott’s ‘An Old Memory,’ CLICK HERE.
