A conversation with . . .

Floyd musician Scott Perry moved to town in 1999 to raise a family, right in the middle of a successful musical career. He has continued to be quite successful in the area, gigging often and opening the Pickin’ Porch, a music store which specializes in hand-crafted acoustic instruments. Perry takes a moment to talk about how he got into music in the first place, and what he thinks of it now.

How do you describe your sound?

Scott Perry : I would describe what I play as being traditional and original acoustic blues and roots music. And that includes blues from the 20s and 30s as well as a healthy selection of what I call mountain guitar, which is people like Sam McGee and Frank Hutcheson and Riley Puckett. A little bit of jazz from the 20s and 30s. Just a touch of ukelele madness as well.

How did you get into playing?

SP: I’ve been playing for about 25 years, since I was a freshman in college. I didn’t really have much musical interest, even all the way through high school. I had gone to college on an athletic scholarship to play football, and found out that college football wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it was gonna be, so after my first season I decided I was not gonna continue to play. I suddenly had this block of time that I was not used to having free, and I happened to have a guitar under my bed that I bought back when I was probably nine or ten years old that I had never learned how to play. And I was hanging out with these guys in the dorm that were listening to Taj Mahal, and that was the first music that I had ever heard that made me say "I wish I could play like that." I took that Taj Mahal record and my guitar down to the music department and started knocking on doors until I found somebody who could teach me how to play like that.

How did you get your career rolling after that?

SP: When I was in college. Being the first-born Leo son of an Irish Catholic woman, I kinda had the arrogance to believe that as soon as I learned a couple of tunes I was probably good enough to play in front of people. I used to do coffee houses and little clubs where I went to college, and sometimes I was so desperate for attention I’d go out and play on the street. Just continued to pursue the music, and there followed a gradual increase in pay and quality of clubs.

What brought you to Floyd?

SP: I actually discovered Floyd by accident. My wife and I were ready to look for something in the country to have a place where we could raise our kids. I was touring … and I did a show in Roanoke , and I had a casual conversation with somebody in the bar where I was playing … and I told them what I was looking for and they said "you ought to check out Floyd." So we just kinda did on a lark, and on that visit we found a place to rent and got back to South Carolina and gave my band a month’s notice and told them I was moving to Floyd.

You still tour some, right?

SP: Yeah, when I first came to Floyd I still did a couple tours a year where I would go up and down the east coast. But not as much the last couple of years — especially since I opened The Pickin’ Porch. Which is fine — I certainly will never look back and say "I wonder if I could have," because for the better part of seven years I was a touring musician. At this point I’m pretty happy to stay close to home and just play. I’m able to be more selective with the places that I play.

That sounds like a good place to be. You toured enough to be happy and not have any lingering doubts?

SP: I’d never have any regrets. I’m glad for the life I used to lead, and I’m really glad for the life that I lead now. We’ve got a 40-acre farm in Floyd County , which is more than enough to keep me out of trouble without having to get in the van and crawl around from crappy club gig to crappy club gig.

Scott Perry performs tonight and Friday night at Oddfellas Cantina in Floyd.

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