One of the popular perennial performers we have hosted at Java City has been Professor Scott Stroot, Head of the WKU Department of Theatre and Dance. Scott has a rollicking performance style that is always a favorite with faculty, staff and students alike.

Scott, I know you teach a variety of subjects in the Theatre department at Western but can you tell us a bit about your personal and especially your musical history? How did you get started in music?

Grew up in small rural community in far west central Minnesota, piano lessons for a few years as a kid, but too lazy and rebellious to practice enough, and finally convinced mom to let me off the hook. Picked up guitar age 14, pretty much self taught, with decent ear and Mel Bay chord book. Had a great high-school band director, into jazz and jazz rock; I played brass in pep band, guitar in Jazz band, sang in choirs and ensembles, played and sang in a terrible 70’s era garage band. Favorite story from that era: I had a job as a projectionist in the local bijou, and my band stored our gear behind the screen. After Saturday show choir rehearsals the bass, bari and tenor boys would congregate in the theatre, drink whatever weird cheap booze an older brother could provide, and sing Beach Boys with my band as backup. Along with theatre, I studied classical guitar, music theory and took classical singing lessons in college. Got cast in a couple musicals in college, but never was really into musical theatre all that much. Moved to Minneapolis in 1979, hooked up with a friend’s brother, Roger Nelson, who was a very good guitarist and songwriter, and we gigged around Minneapolis as folk duo “Chocolate and Waterman”. We eventually drifted into different worlds, me into nursing school and then graduate school for stage directing, Roger into an architecture program. We still play together when we can, buthe still lives in Minnesota, so it’s a rare treat now.

Who influenced you as a musician?

Early influences: Beach Boys, Beatles (of course), Paul Simon, Chicago, the Carpenters, CSNY- mostly melodic stuff with nice harmonies. John Denver(God help me) but hey, he actually had good taste in covers, introducing meto James Taylor, Kris Kristopherson and John Prine among others. A collegeroomie and good friend turned me on to Dylan, Tom Waits, Leo Kottke, Zappa,Commander Cody, Leon Redbone, The Stones, -not as pretty, but pretty damnedcool. I discovered Bruce Cockburn in early 80’s, and I’m still a huge fan.His guitar work has been very influential. I moved to New England in 1986,and helped found and run the New Moon Coffeehouse in Haverhill, MA, where Imet, worked with and played with a whole ranges of folkies, from Boston to Austin: Greg Brown, Patty Larkin, John Gorka, Chris Smither, The Neilds…too many to mention. These days I’m into folk/alt-country lyric poets:Steve Earl, Buddy and Julie Miller, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, and bandslike The Bodeans, the Subdudes, the Jayhawks. Tom Waits is a bona-fidegenius IMHO, and I listen to him a lot. But ultimately I’m drawn to good musicianship/songwriting in all genres and styles. My musical tastes have evolved into something very eclectic. My iPod is all over the map.

What is your favorite sort of gig?

Concert situation, small-ish venue with top-notch PA and decent lighting, maybe some wine/beer and munchies but NO TV, an audience willing to really tune in and listen- sort of a jazz-club atmosphere.

How do you combine your interest in theater with performing?

Over the years I’ve performed in a few musicals, directed a handful of musicals and operas, even composed a couple original scores and “soundscapes” for plays, but paradoxically, my music performance and theatre work have really been pretty separate things in my life. Your musical style is fun and unique. How do you define your sound? A pirate’s mash-up of my influences is about as much self definition as I can muster. I don’t have a lot of confidence in self-definition; I would be much more interested in hearing what my audience thinks about my style. Vocally speaking, I’ll occasionally consciously “channel” a little Tom Waits or Bob Marley or whatever on particular songs, but most of the time I justlet myself fall into the song’s “character” and imagine outward from their point of view. As for my guitar work; again, Bruce Cockburn is a big influence there, along with Richard Thompson, Buddy Miller. These days I’m having fun messing around with more electric, processed guitar sounds, but at heart I’m primarily an acoustic guitarist.

Do you write your own music?

A few instrumental pieces. But lyrically I suffer from a bad case of the “so-and-so has already done this and done it way better than I’ll ever do “syndrome, which, even though I know better, does stall me. And then too, there are SO many good songs out there to discover and bring to new ears. In my secret heart I suppose I really do believe I’m a songwriter – but I’ve yet to find my authentic voice as a writer. I’m not giving up though. One of these days…

Where do you want go with your music?

If I could click my heels three time and just make it happen I would immediately devote all of my creative time and energy to writing, playing and recording music. I would love to tour for awhile, produce some albums,sell a few songs on iTunes. Practically speaking, I would be perfectly happy to be invited to play at local/regional festivals, at Micky’s, Bread and Bagel, summer gigs at Fountain Square Park, that sort of thing.

Are you planning a recording project for the future?

I’ve been working with some musical friends lately, Forrest Halford and Katrina Phelps (on keyboards and harmony vocals) and we’ve put together a couple sets worth of some really nice arrangements of the sorts of songsI’ve been talking about here, with full on three part harmonies. I think we’re sounding pretty good, and we’re the point where I think we now need to produce a demo, and a Myspace profile (at least) if we want to actively seek gigs. But we all have full time day jobs and families, so… blah blah, no time, blah, blah, no money, blah blah blah.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Though my professional pursuits have taken me in a variety of career directions, music has been and remains a constant, stable and fundamentally important feature of my life, and “if it all goes to pieces tomorrow”, I would turn instinctively to music for redemption and renewal. This may sound harsh, but; I’m really very ambivalent about the ultimate value of human life in the grand scheme of things; I don’t buy, for example, the notion that humans – as a species – are somehow more special than any other form of life on earth. But I’m pretty sure that our ability to make and appreciate music is one of the more important things we have to offer. Gary Snyder says that for all of our willful, rapacious disdain for their needs,our animal brothers and sisters forgive us, because they like our stories and songs. I think that’s as close to the truth as anything any organized religion has ever offered me.

Jack Montgomery is a librarian, author and associate professor at Western Kentucky University where he handles bookings for musical acts in University Libraries, Java City coffeehouse. Jack has also been a professional musician since 1969 and performs with a local folk duet called “Shadowdancer” with Graham Hudspeth.