Scott Nygaard

Well, it’s been a long time since there was a Scott Nygaard Band, but I’ve finally found the right group to play all the odd new tunes I’ve been writing–Joe Walsh on mandolin and Lauren Rioux on five-string fiddle/viola/violin. They’re both residents of Portland, ME (conveniently located a mere 3,222 miles from my San Francisco home), they’re fantastic young musicians, and they seem to like to play my tunes. At least they’ve only complained a bit, and those complaints dissipated once we actually got together to play–at a marathon rehearsal in Portland last month. The new stuff is a bit of a departure from my usual old-time/Celtic/jazz stuff, this time with a bit of a Swedish accent, some odd meters (Joe says we don’t play in 4), and with a little more of my inner Thelonius Monk showing. At any rate, we’ve given this band a name–Scott Nygaard and Crow Molly–and we’re headed into the studio in January for the long overdue follow-up to Dreamer’s Waltz. Here’s a photo from our first real gig, at One Longfellow in Portland last month, with the wondrous Natalie Haas sitting in. (Hmm, it looks as if Joe and I are listing a bit to port).