Bill Scorzari

Sidereal Days (Day 1)

Self-released

Literate songwriter and mood shaper Bill Scorzari returns with his fifth and sixth albums, or a double album, if you will. The first installment, Sidereal Days (Day 1), will be available this week, while “(Day 2)” will appear in 2026. If this is your introduction to Scorzari’s one-of-a-kind music, be prepared for his exceptionally literate lyrics, nuanced guitar picking, and, primarily, his scratchy, leather-worn, half-whispery voice that takes some time to acclimate to, time well worth spending.  In some respects, the unrefined voice seems to be from a time, centuries ago, the polar opposite of highly detailed wordcraft. The wide-ranging material is deeply personal, some songs that essentially wrote themselves, and others that took years to complete. To fully appreciate them, as I’ve said about his previous releases, find solitude and concentrate on both his words and the emotions he imparts.

Scorzari’s star continues to glow among the singer-songwriter community. Although he self-recorded his vocals and instrumentation, fine-tuning them through two years, he brought them to co-producer Neilson Hubbard and engineer Dylan Alldredge, who assembled a cast of Music City’s best musicians and vocalists. They are Brad Talley on Dobro; Chelsea McGough on cello; Cindy Richardson Walker and Marie Lewey (aka The Shoals Sisters) on backing vocals; Danny Mitchell on piano and Hammond B3 organ; Eamon McLoughlin on violin/fiddle; Joshua Britt on mandolin; Juan Solorzano on electric, rhythm, and 2nd acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and ganjo; Megan McCormick on harmony vocal; Michael Rinne on upright acoustic, electric, and hollow body electric bass; and Hubbard on drums and percussion. Scorzari delivers lead and harmony vocals and plays acoustic, classical, baritone, and electric guitars, as well as piano.

Scorzari points out in the promotional materials that a ‘sidereal day’ is the time that it takes for the Earth to rotate once on its axis relative to the fixed stars or inertial space, which is approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.091 seconds. A ‘solar day’ is almost four minutes longer. The Earth has to rotate a little bit further for its rotation to reach the same position relative to the Sun because it’s also moving around the Sun while rotating on its axis. So, if nothing else, chalk this up to something new learned. Sidereal day becomes a descriptor for revisiting songs long put on hold.

“All This Time,” imbued by Scorzari’s classical nylon-stringed guitar, a second acoustic guitar, and wisps of pedal steel, is a direct love song, one of those that quickly ‘wrote itself.’ On the other hand, the epic “And Carries Me Away” was first begun in 2013. Bathed in violin, cello, piano, and guitar, it’s a song about perseverance and maintaining one’s integrity in the face of challenges (“Yeah, I’m just sayin’ I”m still here and I’m gonna keep holdin’ on real tight/And I’m not keeping’ score tonight, and I never did before, but still, I wish for you to know more.”)  “And So (Deep Into the Dark” is a poignant breakup song, reaching it’s peak with the lyric “Yeah, breathin’s hard now, all the time” though he goes on to relate a burning bridge tumbling down in the blink of an eye. The background vocalists don’t so much harmonize as add emphasis to the angst.

Two sparkling acoustic guitar parts run through another quickly written song. “Borrowed Hearts” begins lyrically, riffing off the cliche” something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” The tone is much brighter as the muse came to him while playing his guitar, sitting on the edge of a lake in South Carolina. The electric guitar-driven “Can’t Break This Fall” is more hook-driven and radio-friendly, if you will, but to these ears does not measure up to the acoustic offerings, such as the multi-textured “Did We Tie,” another unearthed song from decades past, evaluating desire, fear, and time and who had won, before reaching the double meaning of the final question, “or, did we tie?”

 “Endgame” offers layers of instrumentation and a prevailing organ behind Scozari’s complex lyrics, delivered in a rapid cadence. Yet, this may be a bit overproduced with too many background vocals and instruments that distract from his lyrical message.  He then offers the rare two-minute ditty in “From Your Heart,” taking the country-folk route replete with strings, pedal steel, and backgrounds that this time, support rather than overwhelm the song.  “Grace” is his typical lengthy narrative that becomes engaging through the lyric, “a bridge hanging by wires across a stream.” He carries on a conversation, ultimately ending in heartbreak, but it’s a lot to digest. This is when the booklet with the lyrics comes in handy. One can better understand his desperation, “Holding on somehow… Just bring me back, my love…I feel like I’m falling.” The full accompaniment, mostly strings and piano, is simply gorgeous. He reverts to another brief song to close the program. The half-spoken, half-song “Breathe” takes on a hymnlike quality, not far removed from Dylan’s “Forever Young” in spirit.

Like much of Scorzari’s work, to fully appreciate the depth of the lyrics, you will need several listens. His musical accompaniment is mostly superb throughout, a major improvement from his earlier work. That said, Through These Waves, his 2019 breakthrough, must be heard for those new to his work.

• Jim Hynes

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