Music Has Been My Golden Ticket

By Scott Coner

Country Artist

         I’ve been thinking about the journey so far a little bit lately. I sometimes find myself wanting to talk to someone about it, but there really isn’t anyone to talk to. The fact is, I can’t hardly believe what a cool trip it has been so far. I have written and recorded lots of songs, and the songs thankfully, keep coming.  I never dreamed how things would eventually turn out. I had walked away from the business a long time ago in order to raise my daughters, and somehow, the doors in Nashville allowed me back in.

          I would be lying if I told you it has been nothing but newly paved highway since I came back to the music business. There have been more than a few characters that truly needed a physical adjustment in order to overcome their evil ways. But those types of people are in about every circle I guess. They allow us to stay sharp and challenge us to find greener pasture without that type of static in our lives.

          I have stayed true to my own writing style, although I have written with a few other writers in Nashville who have opened my eyes in certain ways. But the truth is, most of my songs come from my own life one way or another. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but that is the way it is. I walk around our farm, I drive the old country roads where I live, and I think about my life as I write. Sometimes, those songs come out in a discombobulated fashion that’s for sure. But they are from me, and that’s about the best I can do. 

(Scott Coner's "Nashville Song" offers insights into

the rough and tumble of Nashville's music industry.)

         Sometimes, not often, but sometimes I have wished I had been born different. It truly can be a little bit embarrassing when I admit what I do in music to certain people. I can see in their eyes the amusement as they ask themselves why I would possibly think anyone would want to hear me play or sing. They all respond the same way with a hateful-type smile, and they’ll begin to tell me about some drunken uncle they have that fancied himself a songwriter. I try to be respectful and allow them their little barb. Another fact is, most people from where I’m from don’t even know about my music. I don’t play the bars or clubs around where I live, because those people only want to hear cover songs all night. That would kill me pretty quickly to be honest.

         Those closest in my family, including my wife, daughters, and parents, are very supportive. But once you get out of that tight-knit circle, it may be fifty-fifty if some of my own flesh and blood doesn’t sit around hoping that I fail in one way or another. I think many of those people that I grew up around would be quite a bit happier if I would just shut up and drink the Kool–Aid like they did. Give up on my goals and grab a 12-pack on the way home from work like they do. They will be waiting a long while though, because I won’t quit until I have to be buried on a hill down the road from where I grew up. The fact is simple but missed by most. They only have a limited capacity when it comes to music. You are either a star like Tim McGraw, or you are a complete failure. That’s where they get it all wrong. The journey is part of the joy. The people, the ones who truly care about the songs. What about that part? Does this not matter to anyone but me?

         It is true that I have been blessed beyond my own imagination when it came to working alongside Tanya, or T. Graham, or even Charlie Daniels. But those weren’t the best parts for me. The evenings that I have spent walking the streets of Nashville getting ready for another recording or show have been the best part. Each of those moments had purpose and meaning to me. It is what I do, and there is nothing else. Those times that I spent getting prepared to do a project, or remembering the moment that a song was written, that is what gives me direction. I consider myself one of the most fortunate people on earth because of my family, and what few true friends I have, and of course this music. 

Scott Coner performs in Nashville (Photo by Cynnamae Media Productions)

         I remember everything about the journey. The times I have spent planning the following day with my wife on west end, or the long walks we took just talking with the Nashville skyline in the horizon. You see, music doesn’t just offer me the chance to play music itself. It offers me the freedom to step away from the world I was raised in and visit a different part of me with those that I care the most about. It gives me a break from normalcy. I have always joked with my wife that she validates me with others because of her striking beauty. I swear, I think when people see her with a simpleton, like me, they take a second to listen. They can’t help but be curious as to what she sees in me. What they don’t know about is what she and I have shared, what we have accomplished together. A very necessary truth is I wouldn’t be where I’m at without her. She has believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. I just didn’t want to let her down or disappoint her in some way, so I have kept on pushing and going down the road even when there wasn’t a map.

         I love my life these days. Good things are happening for me in Nashville. But, in truth, they have always gone pretty well for me in that town. I have sat across some pretty fine dinner tables with candlelight staring at this woman that I love so much right there in the very heart of Music Row. We have had ice cream at Maggie Moo’s and visited our favorite bookstores. She has captured my music on film. We have taken drives looking at all of the natural beauty that the town has to offer. But mostly, we have had fun. We have made this road trip together, and I’m thankful for that.

         Music and all of her magic has given me something impossible to explain. It has been a true gift that I don’t take lightly. I just wanted those of you who follow my music and all of these other ramblings to know that, when you listen to my songs, I am somewhere smiling deep inside. I’m just thankful all over for the way things have gone. I wouldn’t change anything even if I could.   

         Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at www.Facebook.com/ScottConerMusic, www.YouTube.com/user/ScottConer, and www.ScottConer.com. Follow Scott at www.Twitter.com/ScottConer.