Homegrown Radio 9/3/10

It’s a real treat to bring Scotty Houston to Robert Frost’s Banjo as the September artist for our Homegrown Radio feature.  I’ve known Scotty since he moved west in the 1990s to play electric bass in Carrie Bradley’s band, 100 Watt Smile.  He’s a witty & down-to-earth guy who happens to be a fantastic musician—proficient not only on the bass, but also lap steel, guitar & baritone uke (see photo.)

Scotty has played in a number of bands in addition to 100 Watt Smile.  Most recently he was a member of Oakland’s The Mighty Lynch Pins, which disbanded not long ago.  Although Scott is currently without a band, a musician of his talents (especially a bass player!) won’t be so for long.  You can read more about Scotty Houston on his Robert Frost’s Banjo Musical Questions interview here.

In the meantime, we get to enjoy Scotty’s music as a soloist.  In fact, I should mention that Scotty gave me the idea for Homegrown Radio; on his Overjoyous blog, he posted a song a day during the month of May, & while I was enjoying those songs, I thought that home recordings could make a wonderful ongoing feature on Robert Frost’s Banjo.  You know the rest of the story—so let’s hear what Scotty has to say about his first song, “Next the Barometer:”

Thanks for hosting me on Homegrown Radio, John. I've been a fan of your blog for a long time and I've really enjoyed hearing Ray and Dani and Carrie over the summer.  They have been three of my favorite songwriters for the last 20+ years running so it has been a real treat to hear them.

Next The Barometer was recorded in May, and written in the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island last year during a storm last fall.  I picked this one because it's the most recent thing I have on hand, I've been working up some new songs for this month but so far my attempts at recording have been thwarted by technical difficulties.  The current status of my, um, home studio is documented in this photo: 


The room in the hotel was leaking from the ceiling and I had three or four coffee cups arranged on the floor collecting drips.  Weather and navigation.  I wondered where birds sheltered on such a tiny, craggy island.  Hope you like it.  I'll be back with a fresh song next week.

Thanks, Scotty!  Here’s the song: