For most of us, music is a side job that will always be there for us. It may not ever pull in the income needed to support us fully but we simply can never give it up. The joy of creating music always outweighs the idea of not doing it. Our recent find Jay Stott falls into this category and it seems he will do whatever is needed to keep his passion for releasing music to the world going.
Music hit him hard in his teen years. Jay Stott would beg his parents for a guitar at the age of 14 to pour his time into his passion. This guitar would stay by his side for many adventures throughout the Western United States. In fact, his first complete song came to him while he was riding shotgun in a truck on the Alaskan Highway.
After settling in Colorado, Jay Stott found ‘day job’ work to fund his musical dreams in many areas. He has been a ski instructor, fishing guide, bus driver, bricklayer, carpenter, hot tub technician, retail worker, raft guide, janitor, heavy equipment operator, house painter, vacuum cleaner salesperson, airport shuttle driver, bouncer in a strip club, wannabe novelist, newspaper writer, security guard and a bunch of other stuff he can’t remember. He currently is a High School English teacher but the main job of making music never faltered. (He has been known to bring a guitar to class and serenade his students.)
The latest release by Jay Stott is his second solo record Wreckage of Now. The 10 track record is roots-rocking-Americana adventure that will get your head bopping along. The opening title track sets the tone with a straight forward storytelling style to let us into the Jay Stott experience. A world of a 51-year-old grown-ass man who’s seen, and done, a lot.
The pace is slowed down for the evocative “Desert Heat”. This slows the diversity of the talented artist. The country road beat keeps the track chugging along as Jay brings the heat, and some fancy guitar work in an impressive solo. Jay Stott stays in the pocket with “Grain Belt Sign”. He has such a way of painting a picture with his lyrics as the elegant instrumentation lays the background for an epic soundscape. It is as if we are all there alongside him.
The energy picks up with “One Drink Two Drink”. The emotion is felt immediately as the drums pound away and guitars squeal. The pace of the vocal delivery adds another punch to the song. This one will get you moving.
The record closes with the emotional “Dying In Droves”. It is a perfect soothing end to the record as Jay preaches of something not so positive. This realism makes him even more relatable. We can all picture ourselves hanging out sharing stories with the man who has seen so much.
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