The 11th studio record from recording artist Scott Cooley features 13 new original songs
Grand Blanc, Michigan - June 21st, 2022 - Today at the album release party event, Scott Cooley Records announced the immediate availability of "Lockdown Leftovers," enabling owners of Scott Cooley's back catalog of 10 previously-released studio albums to immediately upgrade their collections with the latest release.
"This is a well-deserved bonus album for my patient and loyal fanbase" said the artist himself, CEO at Scott Cooley Records. Scott is best known in the midwest for songs that contain lyrical subject matter about the region as well as several songs about two of his favorite pastimes, sailing and skiing.
As with his past records, this one includes a baker's dozen new original songs Scott wrote and recorded himself at Scott Cooley Music Productions (his home studio) in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The shortest song is 2 minutes 26 seconds long, the longest is over 6 minutes in duration, while most fall in-between the 3 and 4 minute range.
The subject matter includes relatable things most of us have experienced: a renewed focus on what's important in life, realization of our time being fragile and fleeting, the simple pleasures in life, enjoyment of increased togetherness while locked down or working remotely, the struggles of communication and maintaining relationships, money challenges, cancelled events, nostalgia, history, addiction, and of course, a Scott Cooley album wouldn't be complete without covering the topics of love found and love lost.
Many fans have already benefited from pre-release music and video streaming, a clear indicator of their readiness for new material.
"Lockdown Leftovers" is a welcome surprise addition, particularly since it is the first new release in over 2 years and another album wasn't previously planned to be released until 2024. Due to a distribution mistake, Scott's last album, Bluebird Days II had been scheduled for release this year, but was released early.
Fans had come to expect the consistency of an every-two-years release in even-numbered years, but Scott experienced periods of unemployment between 2019-2020 that allowed him to write and record more songs than usual, which allowed for this "extra" unexpected release.
The title of the album describes the motivation behind the album in that the songs were left over from writing and recording them during lockdown due to the Coronavirus, which is referenced in one of the song's lyrics. Another of its songs expresses the positive aspects of extra togetherness experienced with his immediate family during this time, and as with his past releases, love and relationships are a prominent theme throughout.
Scott's method of writing, playing and recording didn't change from his last album project to this one, so the "signature" sound and song quality fans have come to expect is there for fulfillment. In fact some songs he might normally have weeded out, did in fact make the cut this time.
Part of the easing of standards is due to the pandemic making people realize their mortality, which has made him just want people to be able to hear his songs, whether they're carefully curated or not, since our remaining time is more precious than ever.
"Even though I had more time for this album, I still followed my typical process of just getting a song as close to how I originally envisioned it when writing it as possible, then not wasting too much time trying to make each song perfect during the recording process. It stays more fresh and sounds less labored this way, even if a few imperfections remain.
If anything, I actually lowered the bar for what I considered release-worthy this time around. If it was close to sounding like an actual song, and there weren't too many glaring errors or major mistakes, I called it good and moved on. I'm reminded of a t-shirt I saw that said 'don't die with the music in you' or in other words, don't be afraid to release away, whether it's your best ever batch of new songs or not."
More of a non-performing songwriter than a gigging or touring solo artist, there is little press coverage of Scott's music, aside from his own press releases such as this one. As such, there are not many quotable reviews of his new or past music available online, but Scott likes it that way. Preferring to stay out of any sort of public spotlight, Scott merely announces that his new music is available, then hopes for the best.
Without a desire for celebrity or fame of any kind, he still has a hope that his steadily-increasing fanbase will continue to grow on its own without promotion, marketing or advertising of any kind. Although unusual for a recording artist, Scott is satisfied just knowing the songs he writes and records are available to be discovered. How much discovery will happen, and how much organic recommendation will happen, remains to be seen.
At a time when live music performances are few and far between, and when people stay home more than ever, people are increasingly finding new music and new artists they like online in their homes and sharing it with each other online, so the chances are better than ever for an artist like Scott to enjoy increasing streaming activity.
Perhaps best described as Americana, it features the acoustic rock Scott is known for, with norteno, holiday, country, pop, folk, and even a bluegrass song that marks Scott's first foray into playing mandolin. The ever-present acoustic guitar is still Scott's main instrument, but piano, electric piano and organ can also be heard, with most songs also including acoustic bass guitar and light, sparse drums and percussion.
Also notable is that it contains Scott's first Christmas song he wrote as an entry into a holiday songwriting contest, and another written in association with the Sing Me A Story Foundation in which Scott turned a child's written story into a song for the benefit of Gilda's Club- a charity for children with cancer started in Detroit by Gilda Radner of Saturday Nigh Live fame.
Likely one of the most intriguing things about this album to fans is the fact that it includes a song on which Scott's lovely wife Lenore is a guest accordion player because the previously-released songs she has played accordion on are fan favorites.
This album is being distributed internationally to more countries and outlets than ever before. There are no CDs available to purchase this time due to a lack of demand, and Scott has yet to venture into vinyl (maybe someday), but the links are in, and are now active in your favorite places to get music on the world wide web.
This album is available on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pandora, to name of few of the many music services that offer it. Accompanying the release are several music videos created and produced by Scott as well that you can find on his official YouTube channel. Happy streaming!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Tp515a1vnkPNcIYT9nB5w
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/lockdown-leftovers/1630698580
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0B3Z1BL2L
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/scott-cooley/lockdown-leftovers/ALK9b4lmwqkrh7m
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvJHkwdXzy_XgcNJNb6zChSYhyPHEb9QQ
For more details, visit https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/lockdown-leftovers.
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