Sunset Rising

This is the debut album from Scotty Leith, a singer songwriter who resides in Boulder, Colorado. The album is fun and upbeat, consisting of all original material. Sunset Rising is a collage of reggae,folk and rock. Some of the songs on Sunset Rising have a life span of over 20 years. 'Seventh Ave' was written in 1995 while 'Ghost' was written in the last year. All of the songs on the record were performed by Scott on a Taylor acoustic guitar, except for 'Hole in the Ground' which Scott used an electric Fender Strat. Scott had beat boxed out a few trumpet lines for the horn players on Jazzbird and Big Bang and then let them go for it. The only other suggestion was for the horn players to make 'Jazzbird' sound like 'a cruise ship leaving port' and 'Imagine Al Green at the beach' for the song Big Bang. Throughout the album the musicians held the groove tight and followed Scott's original arrangements very close, yet showcasing there individual skills on the solo sections. There's a sweet ska moment during 'Big Bang' when Bassist Jubal and drummer Jonny Jyemo launch into a steady rolling skank. Sound engineer and musician Morgan Harris improvised a lot of funky bass, lead guitar and organ. Todd Livingston played a Weissenborn slide guitar from the 1920's, and it's sound on Wild Winds is remarkable. Michele Steele on Back up vocals conjures up some powerful Joplin-esque wailing. Scott is telling a story here also, the songs are linked like the individual Tri-grams on the cover art. Scott finishes the album on a mystical note, with the contrast of a shape shifting shaman and a broken automobile abandoned in the desert, but neither are alone, for the San Pedro cactus that stretches out before them loves to laugh and sing...... Big Fan.