scott hawley

singer / songwriter / guitarist
 

You might say he's an alchemy of antonyms, a creative conundrum of contrasts. Mix equal parts James Taylor, Jimmy Page and Albert Einstein, throw in some dry humor and a penchant for all things philosophical and emotional, and you might just get an inkling of what Scott Hawley is all about. His melodic sound has been compared to that of John Mayer, David Wilcox and early Vertical Horizon, but Hawley describes himself, tongue firmly planted in cheek, as "a folk singer with a repressed rock star inside." The Austin, Texas based singer-songwriter simulates colliding black holes by day (no, really) at the prestigious Center for Relativity at the University of Texas. By night, he serenades crowds in eclectic venues around Austin with his captivating original tunes. The "Live Music Capital of the World" has provided a nourishing community in which to flourish, an artistic haven that has both shaped and warmly received his trademark guitar-driven sound. Hawley's story is one of musical metamorphosis and invention, a trail that might best be described as This is Spinal Tap meets the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Raised in Fairfax, Virginia, Hawley started trying musical instruments at a young age, but eventually settled on the guitar in high school, because, "I began listening to classic and hard rock," remembers Hawley. "I got into everything from BTO and ZZ Top to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and especially progressive rock bands like Rush and Yes." He pauses and then wryly admits, "But in high school I was usually conscripted as a singer for metal bands." By the end of high school he was moving from the metal phase into a fascination with open tunings, in large part due to trying to get more volume out of a small classical guitar he acquired at a yard sale. It was the beginning of a personal musical revolution that would culminate during his graduate study. "In the end of my second year of grad school, I was introduced to the music of Michael Hedges and David Wilcox, and I also went to Kerrville," says Hawley. "I showed up the day that Willy Porter and Tom Prasada-Rao played, and I was blown away. I resolved to come back two years later and be as good as those guys." And though he now smiles at such zeal and ambition, Hawley remembers that time as perhaps the biggest turning point in his musical formation. He immersed himself in the singer-songwriter tradition and began absorbing the technique of Hedges and other acoustic guitar masters.

After graduating in 2000 with a Ph.D. in physics from UT-Austin, Hawley took a job in Germany, and moonlighted as a performer at Checkpoint and the BeBop Bar, two lively Berlin nightclubs that at times he packed so full people were turned away. Around that time three of his songs shot to the top of the German MP3.com charts and stayed there for months. Even so, his most precious recollection of his two- year European stay was a concentrated time of study at the home of international fingerstyle luminary Pierre Bensusan, a virtuoso who left an indelible imprint on what has become Hawley's unique sound.

Despite enjoying a time of unprecedented musical prosperity and growth in Germany (as well as acquiring his prized Lowden guitar), Hawley found himself itching to return to his roots in Austin. In 2002 he headed back across the sea, landing in Austin with a renewed sense of passion and purpose. One such goal was to get serious about recording. "I'd done some little knock off things once in awhile," says Hawley, "but eventually I felt like I needed to take the risk and do a `real' demo." He hired producer Stephen Doster (perhaps best known for his work with Nanci Griffith, Mark O'Connor, and Lyle Lovett) and emerged with an EP that is by all indications an exceptional beginning to his long-awaited full-length album. The songs are at the same time edgy and melodic, metaphorical and hook laden, an uncanny union of heart and mind. "When I was young my parents would say that I had an interest in how the world works and why things happen," reflects Hawley. "I've always been interested in questions -- not just questions of `how' but also questions of `why,' questions about ultimate truth, I guess you could say. Perhaps that's what led me into physics, but I've found that performing songs is yet another vein in which to deal with questions of meaning and purpose."

Seeing astrophysics and music as compatible means to the same end is not a common view, especially coming from an academic author who has written things like "Evolving Black Holes with Mesh Refinement" and "Critical Phenomena Associated with Boson Stars." But Hawley is one of those rare individuals who finds beauty and truth in whatever medium he's immersed in. "For me," reveals Hawley, "music is an emotional release from mental activity. Writing songs is my play time."