I had the amazing privilege to sit down with the exceedingly humble, down-to-earth, and extremely talented Scotty Austin July 16^th at Sidetracks in Bristol, TN. We all know Scotty Austin as the former front man for Saving Abel bringing us hits like “18 Days” and “Addicted.” After being the front man for Saving Abel for over 8 years, Scotty made the decision to embark on a solo career, leaving Saving Abel July 4, 2021.

 Scotty, like myself, was born and raised in Tennessee. He is a 5^th generation musician and a multi-instrumentalist with playing the guitar, mandolin, accordion, and more. He began reading music when he was in kindergarten and gained even more experience playing in the family band. He credits his grandfather, a former musician, as his major influence before, but now, he credits his wife and his kids. He said he continues doing this because he wants them to know that you don’t give up when times get hard. When I sat down with Scotty, he told me, “Music is my life.” He certainly demonstrates that with each song he performs.

My favorite song he performed at Sidetracks is “1000 Songs”, which is a song that is very near and dear to his heart. Before performing the song, he told the back story of how the song came about and credited his friend and the military with saving his life. He had a best friend from high school who joined the Army to take care of his family and was deployed to Iraq. While his friend was in Iraq, Scotty mentioned that he became a drug addict and struggled with finding help to get clean. He said he could not afford rehab, and rehab facilities refused to help because they did not think his addiction was that bad. His friend came back from Iraq, and his friend declared he would help Scotty get clean. Sadly, his friend’s wife left with someone else during Scotty’s recovery, but his friend, being post military, was not one to get emotional. However, his friend wrote a poem that Scotty just happened across. Scotty turned it into a song and is dedicating royalties to his friend who saved his life. Just watching him perform the song was very humbling because being among the crowd, I could feel the raw emotions he poured into the song and how much the song truly means to him.

I asked Scotty what the best advice is that he has ever been given. Scotty said, “Just don’t stop.” He recalled when a Country musician, John Anderson, who put out hits such as “Seminole Wind,” stayed with his grandparents when Scotty was really young. He said his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and John Anderson came back to do a fund raiser show for her. He said he remembers asking John’s guitar player, “How do you make it?” Scotty said he said, “It depends on what you mean by make it.” Then he told Scotty, “Just don’t ever stop.” Scotty said he has made it because he gets to make music and do it all the time. To him, that is making it. Scotty said, “I’m an artist and I do the art for the love of it. I make music because I like to see people smile and because I think life is shitty, and music makes me happy. I want to share that with people.”

Scotty has a lot of things currently in the works. This year alone, he had planned on playing about 30 shows but said he ended up with about 95 and may even add more. He said he is also in the middle of a new record and just released a cover of “Rebel Yell” early this year that charted on Billboard and hit 23. He is about to release another single really soon. Be sure to check out his website scottyaustinofficial.com for more upcoming shows and releases.