Today we’d like to introduce you to Scotty Mac.
Hi Scotty, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got my first guitar from my parents when I was 13 years old. Growing up, my musical influences came from what my parents played in the car. It was a lot of classic rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, Boston and then also some of the big records from 90s country artists like Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam, Shania Twain, and The Dixie Chicks. I was always that guy in high school trying to start and band but couldn’t find enough people. I played all types of music through high school but it wasn’t until I got out of college that I started singing in bars.
The Scotty Mac Band started in 2013 as a fun side project. I met our drummer, John, through a Craigslist ad I posted, and he’s been with me ever since. At the time, the goal was to rehearse a couple times a month, play a few local gigs, and not take it too seriously. We just wanted to have fun and drink a few beers.
I was writing my own music on the side and by the following summer (2014) we were in Nashville recording our first EP of original music. That album led to festival opportunities and opening slots on larger stages, which helped us build relationships throughout the industry and continue growing our audience. The more we had the opportunity to be on those stages, the more we made it a point to learn from the pros.
We always asked questions and took notes – so many people in this industry are happy to share advice if you’re nice about. So we took as many lessons from the pros as we could and started treating our bar shows like we were trying to play like a headlining act.
We continued writing and recording in Nashville whenever we could get out here, and in 2018 we began landing showcase opportunities that eventually led to our first booking at Ole Red Nashville in 2019 – we’ve been a regular weekend headlining act there ever since.
In 2022, the entire band relocated to Tennessee to be closer to the music scene downtown.
Since then, we’ve been having a blast playing at Ole Red, building our live show, and writing new music.
We just recently released our first full-length album, Famous Enough. The record was written by me and our guitarist, Bryan Karijanian. I co-produced the project alongside producer Jared Conrad, with help from session recording pros Tim Galloway and Justin Ostrander.
I’m so excited about this record.
It’s the music I have always wanted to make. The album features 12 original songs and a cover of Shouldve Been a Cowboy as a tribute to the late Toby Keith. The album is a blend modern production with classic country instrumentation and storytelling. It’s heavily inspired by the late-90s and early-2000s country sound that first made me fall in love with the genre—artists like Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw. The album is available now on all streaming platforms.
At our core, we’re still a bar band that loves playing live music. We understand that people come out to Nashville to hear country music and they want to hear songs they know and that’s all good by us. When people come to see us at Ole Red or anywhere else, our goal is to give them a concert-quality experience without concert ticket prices. We are having fun and we are blessed to be able to have the opportunity.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I want to start by saying this job is the best thing in the world but it’s a ton of work and it’s definitely not a smooth road all the time.
It’s long hours, it’s late nights and we all have jobs and families to balance.
And to be honest if you’re trying to do something serious with it in this town – whether that be as a cover band or an artist – there is a lot competition and with that comes a lot of rejection. You have to be willing to take that and keep going and that can be tough at times.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Scotty Mac Band is a high energy country band. We are known primarily for playing top 40 country hits – everything from the 90s through to modern cuts and we also have our own music.
You can find us at Ole Red in Nashville most weekends where we are the closing band on Fridays and Saturday nights.
The one thing we have always tried to do is stay true to playing the music that we like and we play the songs the way they are meant to sound – just like the record. We are not a typical request band that most people are accustomed to on Broadway. We have a highly polished and curated set that covers all of the top country hits spanning the last 30-40 years. It’s 4 hours of non stop music every night. We take pride in that fact that we are a band that people come back to see year after year in a city of such amazing talent.
We have also been recording and releasing original music the entire time – as mentioned in a previous question – I am very proud of our newest release – Our first full length album, Famous Enough
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I am a risk taker but I always make sure I have some sort of strategy before I go all in. I try to just trust my gut on it.
I think everything we have done to advance our career in this band and in this town has had a lot of risk involved.
I spent my life savings on that first EP in 2014. It wasn’t a ton of money in the grand scheme of things but it was most of what I had. That led to opportunities to hop in a van and drive 15-20 hours to play festivals for (sometimes very little pay) in hopes that it would open doors for more and better work.
I moved my family to Nashville and everyone in my band did the same, just to be out here amongst the energy of the music scene and be closer to town for more opportunities. I guess that’s pretty risky.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.scottymacband.com
- Instagram: @scottymacband
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/scottymacband
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@scottymacband?si=0pK7LtDsn8vJnhTR
