Songwriter Scotty Emerick On Writing With Top Country Artists, “One Piece Thermo-Molded Country Plastic Chair” & More
Scotty Emerick was fated to be a musician and songwriter. He started playing guitar at the age of 6 and almost immediately was performing at family gatherings. By the time he was 11 or 12, Scotty was playing Moose Lodges and VFW halls. Yet when he graduated from high school in Vero Beach, Florida, he went to firefighter school. Ultimately a year later he moved to Nashville, paying his dues while working at a Spaghetti Factory restaurant, when he met Bryan White, who didn’t have anything going on at the time, either. Emerick would soon have a writing gig at a company owned by Mark Miller, lead singer for Sawyer Brown. One of the songs he and Bryan wrote, “I Don’t Believe In Goodbye,” became a hit for Sawyer Brown in 1995, which was undeniably the start of a great songwriting career.
Over the next 4 years, Scotty Emerick had 2 more hits with Sawyer Brown, “Round Here” and “She’s Gettin’ There,” and a half dozen more album cuts by the group. Since then, Emerick also had cuts by George Strait, Bryan White, Ronnie Milsap and Toby Keith, to name a few artists. Emerick’s work with Keith has been a long-term deal, including work on modern classics like “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight,” “Beer For My Horses,” “I Love This Bar” and As Good As I Once Was”; he is a frequent performer on Keith’s tours. Emerick has also released music of his own, including the album The Coast Is Clear.
While I was familiar with songs co-written by Scotty Emerick, he admittedly came onto my radar via his collaboration with David Lee Roth on the song “One Piece Thermo-Molded Country Plastic Chair.” I had the pleasure of speaking with Emerick by phone on December 10, 2021, as embedded below. We covered all facets of his career within this conversation, which was kindly arranged by the team behind the Nashville Hitmakers tour. There is no official website for Emerick at this time, so trying starting with his Wikipedia page and/or his AllMusic Guide entry for more information on the Florida native.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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