- Scott Fant
Diesels, Demons, and Dreams
10 Years of Lies, Rumors, & the Truth
Self Released
By Al Kunz
 To paraphrase the
old breath mint commercials this is two, two, two Scott Fant
reviews in one. First is the three-song EP, Diesels, Demons,
and Dreams, produced by fellow Texas artist Tommy Alverson
(of "Una Mas Cerveza" fame) and engineered by Alverson
sidekick Doc Wesson. The other, 10 Years of Lies, Rumors,
& the Truth, has the three songs from the EP ("Jenny,"
"Devil's Eyes," and "Texas Dream") plus eight
others that Fant wrote and recorded between 1992 and 2002.
Searching the web I found two sites (artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Scott_Fant/
and www.mp3.com/scottfant) which both have brief bios and a couple
of Fant's songs to sample and download. The IUMA site has a
place to leave comments and Scott has generated several that
fall into two distinct camps. They're all very complimentary
or absolutely brutal. Hopefully you'll stick with me while I
go off on a pedantic tangent (for those without a dictionary,
pedantic means payin' too much attention to book learnin') and
discuss some of those comments. How you react might be predicated
on your stance regarding the tradeoff between tradition and evolution
in country music. Regardless, it should help illuminate the
likelihood of Scott Fant's music appealing to you.
Some of the comments are about Fant's guitar playing style,
referring to it as "chickin' pickin' shit" and "old
rehashed pseudo Don Rich meets Carl Perkins b.s." Strip
the value judgments and you're left with a decent description
of Fant's playing style. If you're looking for "country"
music with stolen Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs tune in the nearest Clear
Channel owned country station and listen to "Chicks Dig
It." If you think the ability to do screaming guitar solos,
as one listener commented, is the skill Fant should work on then
you're in the wrong place. Maybe Blink 182, the band this commenter
seems most enamored with, would be more your style. If your
preferred country music is something that is not only in touch
with its roots, but actively embraces them, read on.
I know it's called music. But what has historically set country
music apart is what it said. Songs that speak to the common
man. Lyrics that tell us we're not alone in our feelings and
experiences. The words are at least as important as the music.
Probably more. You'd expect that as a past winner of the prestigious
B. W. Stevenson songwriting competition Fant would escape relatively
unscathed in this area by the commentators on IUMA. Au contraire.
Maybe they don't really listen to country music. Possibly they've
listened to too much Lonestar which can brainwash you into thinking
that all country songs should have more in common with Journey
than Hank Williams. In any case they just don't get it. Their
main complaint in this area relates to "I Smell Diesel,"
from Fant's Rural Decay release (no longer one of the
samples on the site). Apparently they think truck drivin' songs
have been done to death in country music. Of course the same
could be said of love songs in any genre. As University of Arkansas
professor of Communication Jimmie N. Rogers articulated in his
book The Country Music Message: Revisited, while the themes
and settings of country songs tend to repeat (and again, the
same could be said of any genre) the specifics evolve to mirror
changes in society. A case in point (as I slowly dismount my
high horse) is the truck drivin' song "Jenny" from
Fant's current set.
"Jenny" may be a truck drivin' song with a retro-country
sound, but her story isn't like anything Red Sovine or Dave Dudley
ever sang. Jenny has been abandoned by a deadbeat husband who
ran off with the girl from the Dairy Queen leaving her with "nothin'
but a cab-over Mack, two little kids, and a shotgun shack."
Jenny did the best she could with what she had, becoming a "truck-drivin'
man" until one night she's forced into making a decision
with no good answers.
Well it was late one evening in the hazy sun
She topped that hill out on thirty-one
No brake lights on a bus load of kids
She locked her brakes in a jackknife skid
They said her rig must have rolled half a dozen times
When she swerved to save those children's lives
Finally got her body cut out of that mess
Had a picture of her babies clutched tight to her chest
When reviewing the demo of "Devil's Eyes" Fant and
producer Tommy Alverson considered two possible directions.
Alverson heard it as "a slow, ballad type thing" according
to Fant. But Fant saw it as "a desperate, honky-tonk, Telecaster
sound with lots of drums and steel guitar." What he calls
"that old Loretta Lynn sound circa 1968 or so." Fant's
vision won out. After completing the rough mix he heard "almost
exactly what I'd been hearing in my head." The only part
missing (and Fant readily admits it's a bit weird) was that while
writing the song he'd always heard Loretta's voice doing the
vocal in his head. Doc Wesson mailed Fant the first mix for
review. When he played "Devil's Eyes," says Fant,
he "almost fell down" on hearing what his wife described
as a sound "like an old Nashville duet." Wesson had
agreed to get backing vocals added to the tracks and surprised
everyone when they discovered the Loretta voice on this tune
was Doc's wife, Julie Wesson, coming out of the closet as a singer.
Fant commented that he, "had no idea she could sing, nor
[apparently] did anyone else in the Texas music scene."
The result is a classic sounding duet on the classic country
music theme of the struggle between doing what you think is right
and giving into temptation.
I tried so hard to find a way to fight it
And it shames me that my weakness is so strong
I've sworn I won't come back, then my courage dies
Every time I look into the Devil's eyes
If you think the people who leave comments on IUMA are brutal
you should hear what Fant says about the three songs that open
the disc. Culled from his first disc, Neon Prairie, Fant
thought it only right to include them on a retrospective disc
if for no other reason than making the other songs look better
in comparison. One of these, "Texas Tornado," says
Fant is "without a doubt the absolute worst song I've ever
written and quite possibly the worst song ever written by anyone."
While the folks on IUMA are debating whether or not his hat
is ugly (the only comment, other than calling his voice whiny,
that hurt his feelings because his hat is a "by-god Resistol
Cattleman, the finest damn straw hat ever made") Fant is
reserving the job of his own worst critic for himself. While
not his high-water mark as a songwriter "Texas Tornado"
is better than that. Pat Green's made a successful career on
songs just like this one. It may not run too deep, but it is
fun.
She's got a mind as sharp as a razor
The prettiest female I've ever seen
Blue eyes that cut like a laser
Whoa Lord, she's a Cowboy's dream
They call my girl the Texas Tornado
She ain't too big, but she's as wild as the wind
Cool as a breeze and hot as a pistol
Better batten down the hatches when she blows in
Rather than telling you all about the kiss-off song, "Look
Who's Hurtin' Now," the instrumental "Peckerwood,"
or the whole story of the country boy working things out with
the city girl in "Yardbird" I'll let you visit either
of the places mentioned earlier and decide if Scott Fant's music
is for you. Be sure to leave your comments, good or bad. Fant
understands that a passionate response means he's doing something
right. I suspect he's even pretty happy about that "old
rehashed pseudo Don Rich meets Carl Perkins b.s" comment.
Just don't dis' his hat.
For your own copy of either of these discs look for Fant's
gigs in and around Dallas. 10 Years should also be available
at www.cdbaby.com or send Fant an email through the contact page
on either the IUMA or MP3 sites and I'll bet you can work something
out.
Contact Al Kunz at kunz-at-rockzilla.net
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