Imagine the talent you must have if Robert Plant thinks he should step aside so you can sing a song. Darrell Scott doesn’t have to imagine that.
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Ten years ago, Scott was touring with Plant as part the resurrected version of Band of Joy, a band Plant started in the mid-’60s but then left before it ever really got off the ground. Also along for the resurrected ride were Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.
At some point Plant had an idea for the show. He wanted him to showcase Darrell in the show by having him take center stage and step up to the main mic. Of course, Scott obliged. After all this is Robert Plant requesting. The question is, what song should he do? It’s not like Scott lacks in musical street cred. He has a list a mile long of songs he’s written that have been recorded by artists from Keb Mo to The Chicks (formerly known as The Dixie Chicks) so the selection pool was pretty damn deep. Still, even with his multitude of songs, Griffin opted for a cover.
“I first heard “A Satisfied Mind” from a Glen Campbell recording in the mid-1960s — my brother used to sing it as he was a Glen fanatic. Fly forward decades later when I performed the song in a trio I was in when I first got to Nashville in the mid-’90s. Then in 2010 while I was on tour with Robert Plant and the Band of Joy that included Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin, Robert wanted me to lead a song for the show…I considered the many songs I had written and decided to offer a song I did not write: ‘A Satisfied Mind’ (written by Red Hayes & Jack Rhodes) because it highlighted this great band and these great singers on THIS great song from the late 1940s (first recorded by Porter Wagoner). Once it was in the show it was welded in place as it was the right song for the slot. I sang it every show for the next 18 months.”
Band of Joy didn’t last. The outfit spent 2010 and 2011 together and then as musicians often do, they all went on to other things. The music from those days however, that did last and therein lies the beauty of life on this spinning rock. Sometimes when you least expect it, the universe will unearth the most magical of things.
“Fly forward another 10 years and I had called a session with Buddy and Patty in Nashville to simply record it with the 3 of us, and the day before we were to go in studio (and from the archives of our front of house sound man, the late great Roy Williams, via Buddy) I was sent this live recording – and there was no need to have a studio version – as we had this: this performance, on some night, somewhere in the world, with these friends: Robert, Buddy and Patty. So, where does the time go, Uncle John?”
The song will be available on July 31st but American Songwriter is proud to give our readers a sneak peek listen of that magic today.
Photo credit Gabriel Scott.
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