Singer, songwriter, storyteller, and the next big country sensation, Scott DeCarlo will be unveiling his brand-new video, “Share The Morning Light”, very soon. Having been already a Billboard chart recipient, DeCarlo continues to write and co-write future country hits.
Scott DeCarlo and I shared some questions and answers to which his responses were both sensitive and enlightening. Originally from New Jersey Scott began his career writing and singing rock. He has since found a home in Country music.
Scott, you’ve charted already, with what songs?
My first charting song on the billboard top 100 was, “Having A Good Time.” Then I charted again with “I See Trouble Coming.” Neither of them hit the top 40 but it was an honor and a privilege to be on the billboard top 100.
I feel like you have a certain confidence about you without the arrogance that usually comes with it. What gives you that confidence?
The confidence I possess now I did not always have. It’s taken a lot of mistakes. It’s taken a lot of self-doubt and failure to recognize that I needed the failures to grow. Not just in music, but in life in general. I was a terrible lover, a terrible friend, just wanting things to happen for myself, not realizing that as much as I was being selfish and trying to grow as an artist or as a writer, that I was letting down the people around me. Things where I’ve failed have led me to accomplishment. Because of the failure and because I’ve self-reflected and seeing where I have let others down, I came to understand that with helping others I will only become more successful. In my life I have studied martial arts. You self-reflect in that training. That was the one training that I didn’t completely intertwine with music, and in my life. A couple of years ago I started to do that. I realized that I cannot separate who I am from my music. It all has to be together. When you put your heart and soul into your music, and you put your heart and soul into bettering yourself, it’s truly amazing. When I recognized all of my mistakes, when I realized all of the wrong turns, I saw that I had to correct myself before I could become successful. The minute you start believing in yourself you can become successful. There are many different levels of success. It starts with believing in yourself, as the lover, the writer, the friend. When you realize on the ground level that you have to be a good person to everything in your life, not to just what it is that you desire and then everything will blossom. Sort of like a Lotus. You know a Lotus comes from mud. People don’t really realize that some of the most beautiful flowers in the world comes up from muck and mud and blossoms the most beautiful flower. When you realize you can dig yourself out of the mud with the mistakes that you made, you gain a confidence. You might feel that you’re terrible at this or terrible at that but were you really terrible or was it that you just weren’t paying attention. In my case, I didn’t realize the things that I needed to do to be successful. That confidence came in understanding that I made my mistakes and I’m doing my best not to make them anymore. Now I am that good friend and that strong songwriter that I want to be. I’m growing internally so that externally I can produce great stuff.
I hear a song in that.
That’s possible.
Your songs tell a story, what inspires that?
I thank you for that, but I’m here in Nashville where there are the best storytellers in the world. The best poets in the world migrate here. The best musicians, they all migrate here. As I venture to different songwriter nights and different events, I am extremely humbled at the abilities that are in this town. I strive to write a great song with a story, which has not always been the case. I’ve always been anthemic in my writing and I thought that’s what I wanted. But I realized that the more you tell a story in a song, the more you connect with your audience. An anthem can connect, sure, but not like a true story. When the truth is in your story, and that story makes great sense, it becomes a great song. So, I strive to write a great story, and I will continue to strive because storytellers here are quite amazing. I hope someday to be on that level. I believe I’m almost there, I don’t know maybe I am there. That’s for my audience to decide.
Where do you get your stories from?
It’s interesting… I was in the elevator the other day and somebody had made a comment and I thought “well there’s a comment.” You kind of build on a comment. You say something, and you get an image in your mind. It’s not always a life experience that you write about. When I wrote the “Lipstick On My Window” song, I literally just saw a young girl while walking down the street and she was trying to do her lipstick in the reflection of her mirror. It just gave me the idea. She was sitting in this pretty cool car, and I just changed the image in my mind as opposed to it being this situation that I was in, it was just a cool kind of vibe. I just ran with it. They come from everywhere and anywhere. The greatest thing is to co-write. When you co-write with other people, they bring their image to the room that you’re writing in. You may have an image of the girl putting on her lipstick in the car but your co-writer might say “how about if she puts her lipstick on in the window.” Co-writing is an incredible experience and you learn so much from that. You definitely get a major part of your story from your co-writer. Years ago when I first came to Nashville I had met a fellow that I worked with for a while, a pseudo-manager. He was a real great guy and the first thing he told me was, “you know Scott, your songs need to make more sense.” I was a bit offended at first and I asked him what he meant. He was so right and said that I just had to tell a story. He told me that he knew I was trying to get everyone to sing a particular hook in my song, but my story has to bring them there. He was so right about that and it was a humbling experience because I thought I was such a good writer. I was kind of terrible. I thought, I might need a little work….or a lot of work !
If you could have me ask you any question in the world what would you want me to ask?
I guess what I would want someone to ask me is to help them do something. I go back to your previous question, it all comes down to helping others. I would want somebody to ask me, “can you help me, because it’s not self-serving and I don’t believe we are here to serve ourselves. Helping others is truly what life’s about. And kindness. I think we as a society here in America, we’ve gone so far away from helping, and we’ve gone so deep into the direction of being selfish and self-serving. I’m sure that’s not the answer you were looking for, but it’s the answer I’m honest about. I would like somebody to ask me to help them somehow because that’s what this society needs more of. We all need help to better ourselves and help others. That’s an honest answer and I wouldn’t know another answer.
What do you feel the future of country music is? I feel like it kind of goes in spurts. Sometimes you have people writing about their trucks and sometimes you have people writing about the love of their lives.
A lot of people love their trucks. Country music is really cool. The last few years country music has taken an approach where it’s like a melting pot. It’s encompassing everything now, every style and every genre is finding its way into country. As a writer it’s great because I can try new ideas all the time. As an artist it doesn’t keep you in one area. I used to write a lot of country rock, or southern rock. Now I’m able to try different things that I wouldn’t necessarily have been able to try if I were labeled as this type of music or that type of music. I think country is forever evolving and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
Scott DeCarlo’s new single “Share The Morning Light,” is now available worldwide. Download your copy on iTunes today:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/share-the-mornin-light/1474962364?i=1474962368
Follow Scott DeCarlo on the web:
www.facebook.com/scottdecarlomusic
https://twitter.com/scottdecarlo
https://www.instagram.com/scottdecarlomusic/