Scott Sharrard is a triple threat, an outstanding guitarist & vocalist, and a Grammy nominated songwriter.

Introduction

Based in New York he is best known for his near decade long association with Gregg Allman – as lead guitarist and eventually as musical director of the Gregg Allman Band. Glide Magazine called him Gregg Allman’s secret weapon, but to those in the know, the secret has been out for a while. The great Levon Helm was an early and enthusiastic mentor, and even Dr. John extended a helpful hand along the way.

Gregg Allman's “Low Country Blues” album was recorded with musicians selected by star producer T-Bone Burnett. For his final album, which he finished recording shortly before his passing on May 27, 2017, Gregg's own band joined him in the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. That's the same studio where his brother Duane had worked as a session guitarist. In addition to Scott's role as lead guitarist and musical director of the band, Gregg's final album also includes two songs written by Scott: the opening track of the album “My Only True Friend,” was co-written by Gregg and Scott, and Scott's song, “Love Like Kerosene.” (video below)

Over the years Scott did an amazing job for Gregg Allman, especially when Gregg's health failed. Although he still strives to bolster Gregg's legacy, Scott Sharrard is very much an artist in his own right. As a singer he moves effortlessly from R&B, to soul, blues, and rock with genuine conviction and emotional depth. As a guitarist he demonstrates equally impressive skills, with explosive high energy blues, driving rock, & tasteful R&B licks with a hint of jazz.

Fans are eagerly anticipating Scott's next album, “Saving Grace,” which is scheduled for release in 2018. The album was also recorded in FAME Studios with Scott using Duane Allman's 1957 Goldtop Les Paul guitar, and in Memphis at the Electraphonic Studio. The sessions were filmed by Red Hawk Films – thus there is not only an album, but there is also a documentary film in the works. This interview took place just after the release of his last album, "Scott Sharrard & the Brickyard Band."

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The Greegg Allman Band performing "Love Like Kerosene" by Scott Sharrard (lead guitar)

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Interview

Alan Bryson: We know where people are now with their music, but something I'm always interested in is where that came from. One of the best ways to find that out is to learn what you were exposed to at home, what were your parents listening to, were they musicians, did you have siblings who were musicians – what did you hear around the house, that kind of thing.

Scott Sharrard: Yeah, I would say my childhood was kind of a pivotal thing for me as it is for most professional musicians. My father is a guitarist, singer-songwriter himself. He was professional, then semi-professional, and then as I got a bit older he had to leave it as a full time gig. So I grew up with all kinds of rock & roll, blues, and folk music playing around the house, and eventually I really got into soul and R&B via rock & roll. The first thing for me was playing Chuck Berry. He was my hero when I was ten years old, I had a poster of Hail Hail Rock & Roll, the documentary on Chuck Berry, which I saw at that time. That was my goal man, I wanted to be Chuck Berry and Keith Richards, who was also in the movie.

So at that age I learned all their music right away, the Stones and Chuck Berry were kind of my benchmark. And then I read articles about both of them, and then I almost immediately got into all the old blues guys: T-Bone Walker, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and then eventually the more Chicago guys like Magic Sam and Elmore James.

So it was a journey. I remember when hifi stereos with CD players came out and became the rage in everybody's home. At that time the Led Zeppelin box set came out, and I'll never forget hearing “Kashmir” in a stereo store, and I just thought, “What the hell is that music! That's the greatest thing I've ever heard.”

Then that led me down that rabbit hole, and it took me to the Beatles and everything else. My childhood was all music, that's basically what I'm tellin' you. Playin' guitar, pickin' stuff off records by ear, and learning whatever I could from my Dad. My family moved all over the place, they were originally from Dearborn/Detroit Michigan area, that's where I lived until I was about 7 or 8. Then we moved all over, and eventually we ended up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and that's where I went to the high school of the arts, and that was an amazing program. I was basically playing in clubs at night with older guys, and occasionally getting to play and hang out with guys like Buddy Miles, Luther Allison, and Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf's guitarist.) That was kind of the local scene at that time, especially at this club called the “Up & Under.”

Alan Bryson: So in high school did you begin formal training on guitar, did they have a program for guitarists?

Scott Sharrard: Not really for guitar, at that time they didn't have anybody. They tried to send me over to the conservatory, and at the time I was a little precious about learning what I was doing, because I had already identified so much of it that I almost afraid to define it. Especially because the older guys I knew who played both jazz and blues had very little theoretical knowledge of what they were doing. Eventually the professor broke me down somewhat and I did get a better knowledge, but moving to New York City right after I got out of high school, that's when I really got my butt kicked and started to learn.

There were a few guys who helped me out in terms of getting better at theory and reading, and also, once I got to New York I had to play a lot more jazz. In New York you have to play jazz to make a living, it's a jazz town. Of course I've always loved jazz and I've studied it, so it's a part of what I do, and it's a part of what the Allman Brothers did. You know those guys were obsessed with Miles Davis and John Coltrane just as much as anybody who plays jazz. Improvisation is improvisation, as far as I'm concerned Coltrane's group is like a rock & roll band.

I try not to see those distinctions, but I did needed some help with the specifics. I used to play in Brian Charette's organ trio, and he used to play in a couple different versions of my band. We've remained really tight friends, and he taught me a lot about playing more modern jazz. The blues/jazz kind of stuff I pretty much already knew, shuffles and ballads, and standards. But the modern stuff, by people like Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, it was Brian who really opened my mind to that kind of music. I think if you can learn to play that music in the way that he espoused it, which was very melodic and simple, it can have a lot of weight, especially compared to people who learn it in a conservatory.

I'm kind of happy I learned everything backwards, I kind of learned it the way a journeyman yeoman learns, from guys on the job, and in their apartments.

Alan Bryson: In that vein, I think you had a chance to tour with Dr. John, is that right?

Scott Sharrard: It wasn't so much a tour, it was actually some opening slots with my band The Chesterfields. We had teamed up with him on some gigs with Gregg Allman. One of the highlights of my life was when I was opening for him, and he was dancing on the side of the stage with his cane. That was about 2002 or 2003.

He tried to help us get a booking agent, and do some things at the time, but that particular period, from 2000 until … well now, it's just been horrible in the music business. I just read an article the other day, and Warner Brothers is doing kick starter campaigns for their artists now.

It's over, I mean that model anyway. I like to think of it as, now is the 1950s. In the 50s there was no template, everybody was inventing the music and the business. I hope we can somehow reinvent the music and the business simultaneously, and try to salvage the cultural art form of music. Every style, classical, jazz, rock, blues – they are all suffering across the board.

Really what it comes down to is the live performance, there's no substitute for that. I think it's going to continue to be all about touring and performing, and bringing music to people. Records might end up become something like a business card.

Alan Bryson: And something to sell at concerts along with T-shirts and merchandise.

Scott Sharrard: Think of it this way, if you think of the previous era in the 30s, 40s, 50s, it was all about singles. Then in the 50s, and particularly in the 60s people were like, “Damn I gotta buy this whole frickin' album just to get the one good song.”

And then by 1976, I saw this recently on a PBS documentary about Carole King and James Taylor, in 1976 the number one form of grossing entertainment – this was covering television, movies, Broadway shows, literature, everything, the number one form of entertainment was pop record sales.

And then it was the era of the album, so we're not even talking about singles, they were printing singles, but we're talking about vinyl long play albums that were more expensive. What we've got now, we've gotten down to point where we're back to the single again. Nobody is listening to albums. They just listen to YouTube clips and check this out, and then check that out. That's kind of a paradox, but if we can bring over that example, maybe that's where we're heading.

Alan Bryson: I did want to ask you how you came to play with Gregg Allman, had you even seen him live before?

Scott Sharrard: It's funny because for a period of time it was a tradition in my family to go see the Allman Brothers in the summers. Yeah I was obsessed with the Allman Brothers, that was one of the bands in my early years, around the time I discovered Led Zeppelin. I learned that whole “Beginnings” album back to back, both guitar parts. We started going to see them and I was a huge fan of Warren Haynes, and I would shed endlessly to those albums, and from very early on Gregg's singing was a huge influence on me.

Then I came to New York and did a bunch of stuff. I did a couple of albums with the Chesterfields, and a few solo albums. Just playin' all kinds of music, all styles, and touring. Then I started playing in my buddy Jay Collin's band, he was the MD (musical director) and sax player for Gregg, he's been with him for over 12 years now. So when I first started playing with Jay, he said, “Man we gotta get you in Gregg's band.” They were looking to make a change, but it took about three years.

In in the meantime I brushed up on my slide playing and refreshed my childhood memories of constantly practicing with Duane Allman, and Dan Toler – I've always been a huge fan of his. And also getting some board tapes and discovering Jack Pearson.

Warren Haynes, Scott Sharrard, Jack Pearson

Alan Bryson: Tommy Talton, that's the thing with Gregg, he's had such great players, I think he even had Robben Ford on tour with him for a while.

Scott Sharrard: I've got some recordings of that, the stuff he was doing was pretty amazing. So I stole a little bit from all those guys, and I just kind of studied the gig up a little bit. Because I wasn't as familiar with the Gregg Allman Band, but I was extremely familiar with the Allman Brothers.

And then all the sudden I get a call from Jay when I was living in Brooklyn, and he said, “Man I need you to come out with me to Camden New Jersey, we're gonna sit in with the Allman Brothers.” So I asked him what was this all about about, and he explained that this was basically my audition to get in Gregg's band.

Alan Bryson: So had you met Gregg before this?

Scott Sharrard: No, I'd never talked to him, never met him any of those guys. So this was about 2008, in Camden just outside of Philly, and as I'm getting' there I realize, my family had lived in Pennsylvania for a few years, between the Michigan and Wisconsin, so I realized as I pulled up that it was one of the sheds where we used to go see them.

Right before I went on I looked out and saw some kids in tie-dyed shirts, and I swear it was like seeing myself at that age, lookin' up at the stage from the same seats. I'm standing there and I'm thinking Jesus Christ, I'm going to go play with these guys now, and I hadn't even met any of them yet except Gregg. I hadn't met Derek (Trucks) or Warren (Haynes,) and I'm a big fans of both. I went out and played a song and it went great, and they brought me back out and I did another one, and at the end of the gig it was like, it's a done deal, you're in the band now.

Alan Bryson: Do you remember what you played?

Scott Sharrard: Yeah, I did “You Don't Love Me,” and “South Bound.” There's a recording of it. I've sat in with the Allman Brothers a bunch of times, and they always make CDs which you can buy from their website.

Alan Bryson: The Instant Live CDs?

Scott Sharrard: Right, so it was Camden, N.J. August 2008. So I was in rehearsals with the band in November, and the tour started in December. Officially the first date I ever played with them was actually my birthday, December 28th, 2008.

Alan Bryson: That kind of explains something to me because I got a chance to see you here in Germany in 2011, and I was really impressed by the chemistry between you and Jay Collins (sax), and now I understand why, you guys go way back.

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Thankfully someone recorded a bit of this performance in Bonn, Germany. It was a rare opportunity to see Derek Trucks with Gregg's band. Derek Trucks played an amazing solo on “Dreams,” and that's a tough act to follow. As you'll see, Gregg's band brought their A game, and Scott Sharrard managed to put his own mark on this song with his inspired solo. He played with feeling and finesse, and took a vastly different approach from the many great guitarists who have soloed on this song with Gregg – it was this killer performance that gave me the idea of interviewing Scott.

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Scott Sharrard: Yeah we go back to about 2005 I guess. He's always played horns and done arrangements on my album, and I've always played on his albums. So yeah, we have a great collaborative relationship working on each others projects. It's a lot of fun to work together and come up with creative ideas, and Gregg is a really cool band leader – excuse the pun, but it is very laid back. The man is laid back, it's true.

Alan Bryson: With him the thing that's always particularly impressed me, is that he has great musical taste and instincts, and he makes really smart choices.

Scott Sharrard: Absolutely, and he's rooted – it's real rock & roll with him. And I noticed this when I used to work with Levon Helm quite a bit as well. With those guys, they're about real rock & roll. Both their feet are planted in the soil of American music, especially black American music of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Bobby Bland, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf – those guys run through the veins of guys like Gregg and Levon. Anyone who wants to start a rock & roll band, you better go back and learn all that stuff, or you don't have a prayer, because those guys understand groove, feel, timing, and melody on a level you can never understand if you don't know those classic artists.

Alan Bryson: I noticed on your album that it's dedicated to three people, but one of them is Cornel Dupree, so I thought that was kind of amazing that you ended up playing with Jerry Jemmott (both Jerry and Cornell worked for King Curtis and Atlantic Records as session players.)

Scott Sharrard: Well those guys, that rhythm section – I studied the crap out of those guys when I was coming up. We always admired the King Curtis band, I remember that King Curtis album “Everybody's Talkin'” – I found it in a record store on vinyl when I was 16, and it was like unearthing a tomb. All my friends and I taped that record and just listened to it constantly, amongst many others. Like Aretha Franklin Live at the Fillmore West, Herbie Mann's “Push Push” which had Duane Allman on it also. There were a bunch of records with Cornell, Jerry and Purdy, that rhythm section. I was always buggin' Jerry and asking when am I going to get to meet Cornell. His health was unfortunately never in a good state. When I would try to hook up with him, his health kind of kept getting in the way. It's a shame we never got a chance to speak, but everything about the way that man played is just the perfect model for the job of being a guitar player in a band.

Some people see these things as disparate, but I see Cornell Dupree and Keith Richards as the same beast in a way. It's all about hooking up with the drums and bass, knowing when to play, how to be tasteful, how to be melodic, support the singer, support the song, and Cornell was just one of those men, just the right guy to call. As a sideman, especially with Gregg, that's what I aspired to every night, to be like Cornell Dupree, I mean I'm not up there trying to be Duane Allman, you know this isn't the Allman Brothers Band, that's not really my job. Trust me, it's not a job I would want. (Laughs) My job is more to support Gregg, support the rhythm section, and make the whole thing feel great. When I get to step out and solo, then I do my thing, and then I step back and join the band again, and move the engine forward. I love that, and Cornell Dupree, Steve Crooper, Keith Richards, those are my number one guys because they know how to step out and play, but also how to step back and support. That's what I want to be.

Alan Bryson: I was curious when the Allman Brothers had their 40th anniversary at the Beacon, and they had that tribute to King Curtis. Did you get to meet Bernard Purdee?

Scott Sharrard: No I hadn't joined Gregg's band at that point.

Alan Bryson: So you weren't in the band before Jerry Jemmott?

Scott Sharrard: No, and that night was basically Jerry's audition.

Alan Bryson: The way Jerry told it to me, that was when Gregg got the idea, but he actually called him later.

Scott Sharrard: That's true. There was a DJ who I think hooked that whole reunion up. Gregg and Jerry had been friends, because Duane and Jerry had been good friends. Jerry was actually the first guy they wanted to pick for the Allman Brothers, but he was too busy because he was playing and doing all those sessions – and Duane didn't want to do sessions anymore. But Gregg hadn't seen Jerry since the 60s, and that night they had that reunion of the Kingpins, and I believe that was the spring of 2008.

Alan Bryson: I think it might have been 2009, because the Allman Brothers were formed in 1969, so 2009 would have been 40 years.

Scott Sharrard: Oh yeah, maybe my timeline is off. But for whatever reason I wasn't at that gig, that's a shame.

Alan Bryson: It must have been a bit of a disappointment when Gregg did “Low Country Blues” and T-Bone Burnett had his studio players do that. But you gotta give it up to him, because he got a really great sound and fit perfectly with the material don't you think?

Scott Sharrard: Basically you gotta look at it as like a T-Bone Burnett record, like you had Phil Spector records. I give him great credit of course for forging a production style of his own. I think he definitely brought his signature sound to that project with those songs, and Gregg's singing on it is phenomenal. Some of the best singing he's done since the 70s, I love that record for the vocal performances.

Gregg really fought to get us on the record and I know what happened in the back rooms. I have total respect for T-Bone and for his choices, how could I not with his track records.

He's just got a great style of his own, and he was hearing his guys who play on his sessions. I was actually pretty excited when I heard Doyle Bramhall was going to play electric guitar, because if I could pick anybody to play for me, I'd pick him. I'm a huge Doyle Bramhall fan. So I checked him out on that album, and I've actually copped some things for some of the songs we play. I love Doyle man, I'm a huge huge fan of his. So when I heard it was him, at least from my chair, I was like, oh alright.

Alan Bryson: A friend of mine played me something – it was from a concert I think you guys did in New Orleans, and you basically covered the “Low Country Blues” album on that. And really, it would depend on my mood for the day which one I prefer – that live recording with you guys, or the studio version with T-Bone. You guys have your own energy, you and Jerry and Jay, it's great.

Scott Sharrard: Gregg's band is a different animal, because it's really more Gregg's vision than T-Bones. That's at least the way I hear it. But I think T-Bone and Gregg have struck up a really great relationship and you never know, they might end up working together again. I think they really hit it off, and I think he's a huge fan of his work. So you can't help but look at “Low Country Blues” as a collaboration between T-Bone and Gregg. We'll see, but I would love to get Gregg's live band on any kind of record, because I think playing together solidly for a unit for five years we have a special chemistry. Everyone in the band is absurdly overqualified for their job.

Also I should mention on that subject, Gregg and I have gotten to do some writing together. There's a song of mine that we rewrote together. I actually just finished a demo for him the other day of it, and we're going to try and get a vocal of him on a demo soon. This song is on the Brickyard Band album, it's called “Endless Road.”

Gregg rework some of the lyrics and some of the melodic ideas to kind of fit him, and we played with the groove a little, and gave it a “Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay” type groove. It just sounds amazing. He took that song, which was my story of my career – being kind of a journey as a musician, and he took that lyric idea and fit it to his narrative. I'm kind of givin' up the ghost talkin' about it, we'll see when and if the next album might come, and if so, if they want to include this song. I feel like he sings it just great, and I think it is possibly a great thing for him. We'll see what his energy is, and what he wants to do, but he's gonna follow the music. He's the artist and we're just here to help him achieve his vision however we can.

Alan Bryson: We'll that's kind of exciting because I love that song, and it's kind of a universal quality to it. I think people who have spent their lives on the road can identify with it. It's your personal story, but I think you put into words what a lot of people have gone through. So that's really going to be something to hear from Gregg.

Scott Sharrard: It's a great mid tempo butt rocker for him too, and I haven't heard him do anything like that on a Gregg Allman album in a long time. So it would be fun to hear him do something that people can get up and shake their asses to as well, that's also kind of uplifting, and a narrative too – his book is a bestseller now, and that plays well to that aspect of his career at this point. We'll see man, I just put it out there, and I love working with Gregg in any capacity.

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"Ain't Wastin' Time No More" - Gregg Allman Band with Scott Sharrard (ld. guitar)

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Alan Bryson: There's actually quite a few songs on your last record that could work for Gregg. “Twilight Angel” would be another one.

Scott Sharrard: That would be really interesting. Yeah, that songs has got a ton of chords, but Gregg is like Frank Sinatra, he's got one of the great voices of all time. No matter what Gregg sings, he's going to tell a story, that's the only way he knows how to sing.

Alan Bryson: It's is a very plaintive, soulful song, could you share a bit about the genesis of that song?

Scott Sharrard: I actually wrote that song when I was on the road with Gregg. Some of the songs I write they just come out completely written, and then other songs kind of evolve. And that was one that had evolved in terms of chords and lyrics over many different gigs, the seed of it started when I was doing Gregg's record, and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the song means to me exactly.

Just like anybody else I've had a lot of trails and complications in life, lost track of loved ones, and witnessed illness and problems. I suppose it's a secular religious song. I'm not a religious man, but I suppose because I'm a musician I have to believe in the soul. So I guess that's a secular man's creed, trying to figure out your place when the bottom falls out. That's when most people can turn to religion, and when you're not one of those people you can turn to song, and I think that how that song ended up coming out of me.

It's hard to pin down where that inspiration comes from, but “life” is the short answer. I think that is probably my most personal song, maybe in my whole catalog.

Alan Bryson: Did you have to overcome a bit of shyness to reveal yourself like that? You really expose yourself, that would seem to be a bit difficult.

Scott Sharrard: It terms of music, it's not for me. Music is such a defining tenet in life, and it's so necessary for me to express myself. It's kind of a default setting, it's something I tried to learn from someone like Gregg. All the great singers have this quality that they can flip on, sort of an emotional light. It's the job, but you're also spontaneously creating a conduit, and you're really believing every word you sing. It's sort of a way of objectifying emotion, so instead of making it difficult, it makes the experience easier.

Alan Bryson: It's interesting, I initially wanted to interview you based on your guitar playing with Gregg from when I saw you live, but after I listened to your CD it struck me that you seem so at home with R&B and the blues. That's kind of a unique thing, there are guys like Solomon Burke who can pull that off, but generally a lot of R&B guys, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield – you don't really hear too many people going back and forth between R&B and the blues that often. It's kind of like to different animals, crooners and falsetto, and the blues singers are belters, and you pull both off very well.

Shadow Blues

Scott Sharrard: Thanks man, I just hear it as all the same, I can't help it. Real rock & roll has to have blues, R&B, and soul in its core, or it isn't Rock & Roll period. I'm modeling my band and my sound off of groups like Traffic, Little Feat, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs, and of course the Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and those bands would always move in a lot of directions. They weren't afraid to try anything, but at the end of the day, it was rock & roll, and I stand firm that I'm not a bluesman, I'm not a soulman, I wasn't raised in the cotton fields or a Baptist church – although I've played a Baptist church, and have friends who do, that's not my background.

But my background is loving that music like a religion, and I consider myself an interpreter of that music, and what comes out is rock & roll, and I think it is the same thing for any of those bands I just mentioned. I can tell you for a fact Levon Helm and Gregg Allman, for example, those guys worship at the alter of that music still. I can't tell you how many times I go on the bus and I find Gregg singing along to Howlin' Wolf, Bobby Blue Bland, or Little Milton. And then I realize how much his voice sounds like Bobby Bland or Little Milton.

People identify him as this iconic rock star, which he is, but he's just as much an iconic blues, soul, or jazz singer. Can you imagine Gregg singing jazz, it would be unbelievable, so incredible. So the style is irrelevant, it's all coming from the same root.

Alan Bryson: Well you know Scott, the thing about music is that it's got some serious mojo. If you think about it, these people come, they plug something in, and then create this invisible art right in from of you. You can't see it, you can't touch it, but it moves everybody and you have an entire audience in the moment, it's a great thing.

Scott Sharrard: Yeah, it's the only life I've ever known, so for me, I get to do what I love for a living. That's the highest calling you can have right? I just try to stay true to the craft, I never stop practicing and try to get better at it. That's just how you gotta do it.

Alan Bryson: Well I really can't say enough about your album, I think it's terrific, and you've put together a super band. I thank you very much for doing this and wish you guys the best, and I hope to meet you here in Europe one of these days.

Scott Sharrard: Oh man that would be a pleasure. I love playing in Germany and we'll try to get back there as soon as we can. Thanks for doing this, guys like yourself are the ones keeping music alive at this point, and I can't tell you what a pleasure it to talk to you, and have your support. Cheers Alan, we'll talk soon brother.

Notes

This interview appears for the first time in written form thanks to @sndbox

This interview is slightly abridged. The last third of the audio interview is a preview of Scott's last album. This didn't translate well to print, but you can listen to it, with music samples, on talking2musicians.com

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