CDs/Books

I’ve recorded a number of CDs and written a couple of instruction books. My most recent CDs are Flown South, Scott Nygaard and Crow Molly and Rosco, with Roger Tallroth. You can hear all of them, as well as my Rounder albums Dreamer’s Waltz and No Hurry, on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc. You can download Flown South at Bandcamp. There’s also a book of lead sheets from Flown South, in the “Merch” section.

 

 

1. Flown South 5:19
2. Halloween Quarantine 5:07
3. Gondwanaland 4:30
4. Chamomilia 3:51
5. Or Not 3:43
6. Itutu 4:21
7. Tall Roger 6:47
8. What’s It Like to Know What It’s Like to Know? 2:51
9. Blues for Señor Pato 5:08
10. What Your Eyes Have Done 5:10
11. Understanding Makes the Brain Lazy 3:18
12. Princely 3:29
13. Off Track 3:58
14. Interruption 3:04

All songs composed, arranged, performed (except as noted), programmed, produced, and recorded by Scott Nygaard, 2021–2022. © Fret Soup Music (BMI)

Alisa Rose: violin (3, 6, 7)

Joe K. Walsh: mandolin (1, 7)

Mixed by Joey Nygaard (Joe Nora)

Mastered by David Glasser, Airshow Mastering

Guitars: 1948 Gibson J-45, 2017 custom Creston Electric

 

1.    Maurice McCusker
2.    Waltz from Munkedal
3.    The Idlers of Belltown
4.    An Easier Way to Fly
5.    Too Hungry
6.    Great Grimpen Mire/Cumberland Gap
7.    Man of Constant Sorrow
8.    Metaren (The Lazy Fisherman)
9.    Haapavesi Nights
10.  Waterbound
11.   Little Did He Know
12.   Wildwood Flower/Happy Holler

Scott Nygaard: guitar and vocals
Lauren Rioux: five-string violin and five-string viola
Joe Walsh: mandolin
with
Sam Bevan: bass
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals
Produced by Scott Nygaard

1.    Roger’s Rough 3:53
2.    An Sean Bhean Bhoch/Cousin Sally Brown 3:22
3.    Rough Crossing/Seven Year Itch 3:18
4.    Anders Eriksson/Exit Polska 3:07
5.    Brudlat til Mia and Micke 6:01
6.    The Surly Seven 3:00
7.    Stella’s Waltz 4:35
8.    Rosco 3:25
9.    True North 5:06
10.    Parlepolskan 3:31
11.    Morsans Vals 4:20
12.    The Blackest Crow/Brendan McMahon’s Reel 3:25
13.    Stella’s Waltz (alternate take) 4:35

Roger Tallroth: 12-string guitar (Seagull), tenor guitar (1957 Martin T-15), Glissentar by Godin
Scott Nygaard: six-string guitars (1956 Martin D-28, 2004 Bourgeois Country Boy Deluxe)
with
Emma Reid: fiddle
Produced by Roger Tallroth and Scott Nygaard

Scott Nygaard, Dreamer’s Waltz

1) Crawfeet
2) Crow Molly/Ship in the Clouds
3) Dreamer’s Waltz
4) Icewater
5) Crockett’s Honeymoon
6) Derwent Vale
7) The Lost Word
8 ) Beaten to the Puncheon
9) Farewell Dearest Nancy/Elzic’s Farewell
10) Fog and Flame (Nevoiero e Fogo)
11) Mind the Gap
12) Muddy Creek/Indian Nation
13) Where to Now?
14) Evening Shade

Scott Nygaard is one of the most eclectically satisfying acoustic guitar players around these days. As a sideman with Tim O’Brien and Laurie Lewis, he’s dazzled fans around the world with his blend of melodic inventiveness, harmonic sophistication, and technical virtuosity. On his second Rounder release, Scott blends all of his influences — bluegrass, old-time, Cajun, Irish, bebop, and even Brazilian choro — into a tasty blend that consistently delights the listener as it challenges expectations. Dreamer’s Waltz brings together many of the great musicians that Nygaard has played with throughout his career, from O’Boys bandmates Tim O’Brien (fiddle) and Mark Schatz (bass), to West Coast all-stars like fiddlers Darol Anger and Ruthie Dornfeld, mandolinists Mike Marshall and John Reischman, banjoist Tony Furtado, old-time virtuoso Dirk Powell on banjo, bass, fiddle, and accordion, Todd Phillips on bass, and even the ubiquitous Jerry Douglas on Dobro.

Scott Nygaard, No Hurry

1) Mary and the Soldier
2) Fiddle Tune Medley: Big Sciota / Acorn Hill / Anna Livia
3) Meadville
4) Bury Me Beneath the Willow
5) Never Will I Marry
6) It Happened
7) Strong and True
8 ) Wheatstraw
9) No Hurry
10) Red Apple Rag

Scott Nygaard has worked in a variety of settings: bluegrass, old-time, Cajun, western swing, acoustic and electric jazz, and more. The selection of tunes on this all-instrumental outing is eclectic but focused. The jazz tunes, Frank Loesser’s “Never Will I Marry” and some Nygaard originals, swing lightly and the traditional tunes “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” and “Red Apple Rag,” smoothly shift gears into a country mode.

“No Hurry is a veritable smorgasbord of what can be done with six strings and a flatpick. Equal parts tradition and original tunes, this all-instrumental recording combines influences as far reaching as old-time fiddle music, bluegrass, swing and bebop into an intriguing, infectious mix.”–Acoustic Guitar

 

The Websters and Scott Nygaard

Chris Webster: vocals
Cassie Webster: vocals and whistling
Scott Nygaard: guitars and vocals

Other musicians:
Cindy Browne: bass
Brittany Haas: fiddle
John Reischman: mandolin
Todd Sickafoose: bass
Anthony Costello: vocals
Lexie Webster: vocals

1) We Shall All Be Reunited (Trad)
2) I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow/Reuben’s Train (Trad/Trad)
3) Locks and Bolts (Trad)
4) Train on the Island (Trad)
5) You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive (Darrell Scott)
6) Richmond Blues (Trad)
7) Ten Thousand Miles (Trad)
8 ) Calling My Children Home (Doyle Lawson, Charles Waller, Robert Yates)
9) There Is a Balm in Gilead (Trad)
10) Green Song (Elvis Costello)
11) Gonna Write Me a Letter (Trad)
12) It’s My Lazy Day (Smiley Burnette)
13) Blackberry Winter (Alec Wilder)
14) Leather Britches (Trad)
15) Down in the Valley to Pray (Trad)

Produced by Scott Nygaard and Chris Webster
© and (p) Lots of Rabbits Records 2004

What do you get when you combine a soul/country singer-songwriter (Chris), a Baroque opera singer (Cassie), a bluegrass guitarist (Scott), a jazz bassist (Cindy), and an old-time fiddle prodigy (Brittany)? Well, we don’t know either, but the results are in your hands (or your CD player). As for what to call it, we can only use the much-maligned term “folk music.” But that’s assuming your definition of folk music includes the music of Louis Armstrong, Bill Monroe, Elvis Costello, Roscoe Holcomb, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ola Belle Reed, James Brown, Bill Frisell, Charley Patton, Django Reinhardt, Steve Earle, Billie Holiday, and Tommy Jarrell, as well as the usual suspects Doc Watson, Martin Carthy, Mississippi John Hurt, etc.

In this recording of traditional and sounds-like-traditional material, we’ve tried to keep things fairly simple, letting the sound of the voices and guitar stand out and the songs dictate the arrangements. But we were also lucky enough to have some assistance—the fabulous fiddle of Brittany Haas, the suave mandolin of John Reischman, the solid grooving bass of Cindy Browne and Todd Sickafoose, and the dulcet harmonies of Anthony Costello. And if you listen closely, you’ll hear another wondrous Webster (“Mom”) on “There Is a Balm in Gilead.”

BOOKS

Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs for Beginning Guitar

This outstanding book/CD pack contains 15 classics of American roots music arranged for the acoustic guitarist – complete with background notes for each piece!
Songs: • The Blackest Crow • Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie • Down in the Valley to Pray • Eighth of January • Golden Slippers • I Truly Understand • John Brown’s Dream • Little Liza Jane • Man of Constant Sorrow • New River Train • Over the Waterfall • Queen of the Earth, Child of the Stars • Rain and Snow • Richmond Blues • Willow Garden

Bluegrass Guitar Essentials

Bluegrass Guitar Essentials provides a thorough grounding in the essential musical elements of bluegrass guitar. Scott Nygaard’s concise and well-written lessons cover all the traditional aspects of bluegrass guitar, from a primer on bluegrass rhythm guitar, fiddle tunes, the blues, and crosspicking to more contemporary approaches to flatpicking, including unusual chords and solo flatpicking. In each lesson you’ll find exercises, licks, and full songs to play in both standard notation and tablature, along with chord diagrams and fingerings. Includes CD with complete guitar transcriptions. SONGS: Greenback Dollar • Paddy on the Turnpike • Cuckoo’s Next • Sugar Baby Blues • Midnight on the Stormy Deep • Up the Creek • Kingdom Come • Black Mountain Rag • Billy in the Lowground • Whiskey Before Breakfast • Down in the Valley to Pray • Lonesome Old River