I grew up in St. Charles, MO, a town famous for being Lewis & Clark’s last stop before heading into parts unknown. I got my first guitar, a red 1966 Fender Musicmaster, at the age of 11 and dove deep into music from there. My voice developed along the way and soon I found myself singing and playing my favorite songs. From there, I started writing my own tunes..
After college at Missouri State, I held a couple proper jobs, but couldn’t get the idea of being a musician out of my head. My sister was living in Los Angeles at the time and it seemed like the perfect destination to give it a go. Upon arrival, I started playing around town as a solo artist and within a year formed a rock band called Signal Hill Transmission. We recorded a couple albums and EP’s and just kept plugging away. Songs from those releases ended up in some film & tv shows. On a lark, we entered a local radio station’s battle of the bands contest and won 25K. This yielded a short-lived deal with ATO Records. We learned a lot working with producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins, Pete Yorn) and “On and Off” from the record was placed in an episode of the 90210 (the reboot). While well received, the EP didn’t exactly go platinum and the band started to drift apart. I had been writing a new batch of songs that didn’t quite fit the aesthetic of the band and decided to make a solo record.
Quick Fix Bandage, a folk rock effort, released in 2009 and ended up on some niche blog “best of” lists for that year. It was also around this time that I started to do some film work. I teamed up with a friend to write the Miramax Films opening logo music and contributed original score to “Angels Sing” (Lionsgate), a film that starred Harry Connick Jr., Connie Britton, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. It was quite a special thing to write music for scenes that included two of my heroes, Willie and Kris. While continuing to produce/release my own music, I began working with independent artists around L.A., helping to bring their songs to life via a shared creative vision.
Somewhere along the way, life happened and I met my now wife Becky. We both felt the need for a change of scenery and moved to Colorado in 2016. I reconnected with my high school friend Molly Orlando and formed an Americana duo called Wounded Bird. Our harmony-focused approach made playing live fun again for me. Shows and recordings later, we’re still at it and have a release planned for Spring/Summer 2024, although, we're ditching the "Wounded Bird" moniker, just going by our names. This new found joy of playing live prompted me to start an endeavor called Scott Sings where I travel around Colorado performing at private and corporate events. I get to play some of the best songs ever written by artists like The Beatles and Tom Petty, all the while, putting my own unique stamp on things with my voice/interpretation.
It’s been quite a ride and I’m in no hurry to get off. Always plotting my next creative endeavor, be it a solo/duo project, special event or work with a talented artist/band. When I’m not on this musical roller coaster, I can usually be found hiking around Evergreen with Becky and our two dogs or snowboarding in Summit County.
Have a special event or other project to discuss? Feel free to reach out to s_warren(at)mac(dot)com.