Artist Reviews In the Press

Scott Perry

It’s good to hear more from Virginia musician Scott Perry, a dedicated historian of prewar blues who carries on the tradition with accomplished guitar playing and natural singing.

“8 Miles to Perryville” (Oh Papa Music), contains fine examples of his slide playing and finger-picking (you can hear both on “the New Jitterbug Swing”) as well as his wit (on the original “You’re Too Ugly, Baby” and his decision to cover the Mississippi Shieks’ barbed “He Calls that Religion”). The title track adds old-time mountain flavor to a set that pays respect to Tampa Red, the Reverend Gary Davis, Lonnie Johnson, Skip James and others.
- Tom Hyslop, Blues Revue

On behalf of the station l would like to congratulate you on a wonderful cd that is traditional in a time of synthetic music. The rawness and realness of your cd is engrossing and endearing, one feels that they are trudging down a dusty road in Louisiana with a guitar slung over the shoulder.

Your music provides the rhythm and feel that is reminiscent of a time long gone but much wanted to return. We dip our weather beaten felt hat to you and your ability to transport us in time. You have found a home at the biggest Roots and jazz based station in Australia that is proudly independent and free of commercial restraints, non play-listed.

We have in excess of 400-000 listeners per day and our web site receives over 6 million hits per month. With Blues as our most popular form of music here l have allocated your cd to the biggest and longest running Blues show (20 years long), here in Melbourne. The show is “Roots Of Rhythm” with Helen Jennings, Wednesday 9 to 11am. Her listeners will fall in love with your cd as we did.
- Peter Merritt, PBS, 106.7 FM Melbourne, Australia

“Scott Perry isn’t opposed to a bit of humor with his blues: check any of the slightly bent original tunes on I’m Happy Now (OPM 00010). Perry powers his steel-bodied guitar with imagination and a killer right hand; his singing is confident and true. Solo tracks and those with a small combo (including his sometime partner, Juke Joint Johnny, on harp) sound great. A few choice covers round out this most enjoyable acoustic blues set.”
- Tom Hyslop, Blues Revue, Issue #45

“Scott Perry is perhaps better known locally as “Slidin’ Scott”, half of the popular duo Juke and Scott, who sometimes also teamed up with the Aristocats. On this first solo effort, Perry has not broken ties with his partners in blues. Juke Joint Johnny plays harmonica on several of the songs, the Aristocats (Gene Taylor on drums and David Cooper on upright bass) and local personality Shrimp City Slim adds washboard on a few tracks.

By stripping down the instrumentation and working with guests sparingly and as needed, Perry has produced a disc that is very versatile yet consistent. For those not familiar with this flavor of acoustic blues, Perry for the most part plays resonator guitar. Think of Kent Duchaine, acoustic Hot Tuna, Mississippi John Hurt, or solo John Sebastian to get an idea of the type of music.

The songs flow smoothly, with Perry’s very soothing voice providing a nice topping for the musical backdrops, and the variation in lineup from track to track keeps this from sounding tedious. Perhaps the song that best sums up the album would be “Lowcountry Woman” in which Perry sings, “I got a woman down in Hollywood, lives down the Toogadoo Lane, she ain’t no movie star, but I love her just the same”. The meter exactly fits the musical style, the lyrics hit home (literally in this case), and the instrumentation — in this case, Juke and the Aristocats — bounces along, answering the vocals.

The guitar intro to “It’ll Be Me”, is one of the best sounding acoustic guitar recordings you’ll hear. In general, the recording captures the ambiance and feel of a live blues performance. If you can’t get out to see Scott Perry, pick up this disc, and you’ll see what he has to offer. Also, his very gracious liner notes show how appreciative he is to the musicians who have helped him out over the years, and underscore what a class act he is.”
- Brian Lingren, Charleston Free Times, Issue #203

“Slidin’” Scott Perry serves up a tasty helping of folk-oriented acoustic blues that deserves far wider distribution than it will probably get. Song selection is fine and well delivered for this genre, and the supporting musicians are equally fine.”
- Jay Spell, Beach Nights, Issue #57

“Juke Joint Johnny came to my house the other day and brought me Scott Perry’s new CD, called “I’m Happy Now”. It is one of those recordings that deserves national airplay, that’s all there is to it.”
- Smokey Weiner, The Current, Issue #23

“It might seem strange that a serious blues album should use the word “happy” in its title, but such is the case with “I’m Happy Now”, a solid solo debut from Charleston blues guitarist “Slidin’” Scott Perry.
“Perry has reason to be happy. His first solo efforts since he parted ways with former bandmate Juke Joint Johnny contains 13 original songs, each finding roots in the old-school stylings of the Delta blues.”
- Bates Hagood, The Post and Courier, January 14, 1999