The Key » Scot Sax

Listen to episode #3 of Vitamin FM hosted by Scot Sax

Bruce Warren — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:17:45 +0000

Singer-songwriter, rock and roll provocateur, and storyteller Scot Sax has a new episode of his Vitamin FM radio show/podcast that you can listen to and download below. In this episode, Sax talks about writing songs for Meatloaf, Faith Hill, the behind-the-scenes of the publishing business, and how listening to Townes Van Zandt changed the course of Scot’s life.

Vitamin FM - Episode 3hosted by Scot “Daddy-O” Sax Download

Listen/download episodes 2 and 3 of Vitamin FM here.

Scot Sax channels his inner Prince and Kenny Rogers on the new song, “Dirt Bike” (and releases episode two of his Vitamin FM podcast)

Bruce Warren — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:53:36 +0000

Scot Sax on his dirt bike on location in downtown Narberth.

The prolific singer-songwriter, rock and roller and now the host of his own Vitamin FM radio show podcast, Scot Sax has released a new song that you can listen to and purchase below. “Dirt Bike” was inspired by WXPN’s Dan Reed who asked Sax to write a song in one day for Dan’s daily Top 5 at 5 themed feature on motorcycle songs. Wondering what a song would sound like if “Prince and Kenny Rogers were trapped in an elevator” and were asked to write in a day, “Dirt Bike” is an infectious tune, and while there is “The Gambler” meets “Lady Cab Driver,” vibe to it, it seems like the musical debt owed more to Lindsey Buckingham and wouldn’t have sounded too out of place on one of his early solo albums. Don’t miss the second episode of Sax’s Vitamin FM, right below “Dirt Bike.” The new episode’s theme is “Blacks and Whites” and features music from Odetta, Stevie Wonder and The Rolling Stones.

"Dirt Bike" by Scot Sax

Vitamin FM - Episode Twohosted by Scot “Daddy-O” Sax Download

In case you missed the first episode of Vitamin FM, listen below.

Vitamin FM - Episode Onehosted by Scot “Daddy-O” Sax Download

Scot Sax wants to be your DJ; listen to “Vitamin FM”

Bruce Warren — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:46:47 +0000

Singer-songwriter and rock & roller Scot Sax wants to be your DJ. When it comes to the details of music history, Sax borders on geekiness with his vast knowledge and attention to detail about music. The Grammy winning songwriter and songwriting teacher at University of the Arts, is now trying his hand at being a DJ with the “Vitamin FM” podcast that you can download below. For the first episode of the podcast, Sax says he “snuck into the DJ booth and took a swan dive into the very heart of what I love the most: songs.” You’ll hear a wide range of artists including the Beach Boys, Isaac Hayes, Mike Bloomfield/Al Kooper and Simon and Garfunkel (and some folks you may never have heard of) in his first installment of Vitamin FM.

Vitamin FMhosted by Scot Sax Download

Just Announced: Busker schedule for Free at Noon from The Porch at 30th Street Station

John Vettese — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:45:46 +0000

This week, WXPN’s Free at Noon concert series is going al fresco for its first appearance at The Porch at 30th Street Station. Rocking the crowd will be Canadian four-piece The Sheepdogs, who are warming up for a headlining show at Johnny Brenda’s on September 20. In another twist for this week’s Free at Noon, XPN will be broadcasting live from The Porch from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with various Philly musicians busking around the station and stopping by the broadcast booth to perform live on the air. Check out a tentative schedule below.

8 a.m. hour – Scot Sax w/ Suzie Brown
9 a.m. hour – Birdie Busch
10 a.m. hour – Frank Cervantes
11 a.m. hour – John Beacher
Noon hour – F@N with The Sheepdogs
1 p.m. hour – Ryan Tennis

WXPN Welcomes Leicht Night With The Beatles at Milkboy Philly Sunday, Feb. 26th

The Key — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:56:13 +0000

On Sunday, February 26th, WXPN’s own Helen Leicht will host a Beatles tribute show featuring Scot Sax, Mutlu, Rob Hyman (of the Hooters), Jim Boggia, and more.

Tickets to the 21+ show are $8–$10; all proceeds go to the Ovarian Cancer Organization.

Watch a new Queen Electric video for “Happy Where You’re At”

Bruce Warren — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:39:05 +0000

Scot Sax’s recent rock and roll project Queen Electric debuted a new video for the song “Happy Where You’re At.” The three piece features Sax, Phil D’Agostino and Mike Pietrusko. The band’s self-titled debut EP is available for a “name your price” here.

Merry Local Philly Christmas! (download our 12 song local music holiday sampler)

Bruce Warren — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:10:35 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from WXPN and The Key! The last several weeks we celebrated the holiday season by offering a twelve original seasonal songs. WXPN’s Helen Leicht asked local bands to write and record original holiday songs for the third year in a row which the bands have offered as free downloads. Thanks to all the bands for these wonderful songs. You can download the entire sampler as a .zip file here.

The 12 Days of XPN Philly Local Christmas Sampler

Find Vienna – “Christmas Is For Our Hearts”
Gillian Grassie – “When the Night Gets Long”
Summer Fiction – “Christmas Eve for Two”
Matt Santry – “The Xmas Song”
Atomic Square – “Christmas Time is here”
Scot Sax and Suzie Brown – “Coming Your Way”
Angel Band – “I Want A Present”
JD Malone & the Experts – “Best Day Of The Year”
Kingsfoil – “The Valley, A Christmas Song”
John Flynn – “Christmas Balls”
Ben Smith – “I Got A New Tattoo For Christmas”
Ali Hoffman – “Evergreen”

Tonight’s Concert Picks: Find Vienna at World Cafe Live, Queen Electric + Suzie Brown at Milkboy Philly

The Key — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:00:58 +0000

Find Vienna

Tonight features performances by three of the artists in this year’s XPN’s 12 Days Of Local Christmas series: Find Vienna and Scot Sax (of Queen Electric) + Suzie Brown. We originally posted Find Vienna’s track, “Christmas Is In Our Hearts” back on December 8th; Scot Sax and Suzie Brown’s song, “Coming Your Way”, ran on December 15th. You can listen to both below.

Find Vienna performs with Atomic Tom + Lion Of Ido, and Lizbeth Rose at 7:30 p.m.; tickets to the show are $15–$20. Queen Electric performs with Suzie Brown + Van Meter at 9 p.m.; tickets to the 21+ show are $8–$10.

Christmas Is In Our Heartsby Find Vienna Download

Coming Your Wayby Scot Sax and Suzie Brown Download

XPN’s 12 Days Of Local Christmas: Scot Sax and Suzie Brown’s “Coming Your Way”

The Key — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:00:12 +0000

Scot Sax and Suzie Brown met on John Lennon’s birthday, October 9th, in 2010. The two definitely keep busy individually: Scot has a career as singer for Queen Electric (and is a songwriter for various projects) while Suzie—in addition to being a practicing cardiologist— has her own career as a singer-songwriter, with her songs being heard in Starbucks nationwide and having won Philadelphia Magazine‘s Best Of Philly. However, the two managed to find the time to join together for their first written and recorded song, “Coming Your Way.” You can visit Scot’s website here and Suzie’s website here; you can also see them perform on December 22nd at Milkboy in Ardmore, joined by Scot’s band Queen Electric. —Nick Bookbinder

Coming Your Wayby Scot Sax and Suzie Brown from XPN’s 12 Days Of Local Christmas Download

Watch the new video for Queen Electric’s “Gonna Let You Down”

The Key — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:11:53 +0000

As we mentioned last month, Queen Electric is the latest musical project from Scot Sax. The power trio includes Sax on guitar, piano and vocals, Phil D’agostino on bass, and Mike Pietrusko on drums. Their seven song self-titled debut album—which was released in June and opens with the track “Gonna Let You Down”—is available via Bandcamp.

Download new music from Queen Electric (new project from Scot Sax)

Bruce Warren — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:18:02 +0000

Queen Electric is the latest musical project from Scot Sax. The power trio includes Sax on guitar, piano and vocals, Phil D’agostino on bass, and Mike Pietrusko on drums. Their seven song self-titled debut album is up on Bandcamp here; you can download it for “name your own price.” There are familiar touchstones on this collection: Zeppelin, McCartney, and Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. With Queen Electric, Sax continues to showcase his versatility as a musician who is an excellent songwriter, player and pop craftsman.

gonna let you down by queen electric

everything i see by queen electric

Listen to two tracks from Musicians On Call’s Project Playback program

Bruce Warren — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:01:05 +0000

Photo by Jennifer Lyn | Newsworks.org

Project Playback is a component of WXPN’s Musicians On Call program. Recently, local singer-songwriter Scot Sax completed the first Project Playback at the Veterans Community Living Center, a retirement home in West Philadelphia. Sax, a volunteer with Musicians On Call, worked with veterans to write, record, and produce original compositions. During Project Playback Sax led the group, encouraging the participants to play instruments, shape the melodies and write the words. Sax took the recordings to his home studio to mix the elements together and produce the final songs. This experience was recently captured by WHYY reporter and producer Jennifer Lyn for WHYY’s Impact of War Series on Newsworks. In the report (which you can listen to here) Sax tells Lyn:

“I realized that I was about to embark on a writing session with folks between the ages of 80 and a hundred that don’t play instruments,” said Sax. “You’re not sure how present they are at all times. Some of their heads are turned or their eyes are shut or they’re slouched over. Then you start a song and they pick up a maraca or a tambourine; and, honest to god, their rhythm is dead on the money. They are completely there. They just needed to be activated and music is a great activator.”

Below, you can download two songs from the Project Playback sessions. A CD release party is planned for the future.

Good Lovin’ Goes Onrecorded for WXPN’s Project Playback Download

Mister Broderick's Bluesrecorded for WXPN’s Project Playback Download

Josh Ritter to perform at benefit concert for WXPN’s Musicians On Call program this Sunday

Bruce Warren — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:47:27 +0000

Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter will perform a a solo acoustic set this Sunday during a WXPN Musicians On Call benefit concert. The 7th annual benefit, hosted by WXPN’s mid-day host Helen Leicht, will feature an in-the-round performance with local openers Lizanne Knott, Suzie Brown, Scot Sax and Kuf Knotz.

WXPN Musicians On Call is a non-profit initiative that brings musicians to local hospitals to perform at patients’ bedsides. Since 2004, the program has touched the lives of more than 30,000 patients and their families in healthcare facilities throughout the Philadelphia region. The program includes 135 volunteer musicians and 38 volunteer guides who have regularly participated in the program by providing weekly performances for patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the Hospital Of The University Of Pennsylvania, Our Lady Of Lourdes Medical Center, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. In addition to live music, the program also provides local hospitals with CD Pharmacies featuring a CD listening library and CD players for patients’ use. This past January, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children was added to the participating hospitals, bringing the total to six.

In addition to bedside visits, another element of the Musicians On Call program is an initiative called Project Playback. Local musician Scot Sax—who will perform on Sunday night—has been working with a group of long-term residents at the Philadelphia Veterans Medical Center to write and produce a song that will be recorded for a CD. WXPN’s Helen Leicht, who has attended some of these sessions says “What Scot is doing is very moving and emotional to watch. He’s working with folks who have dedicated their lives to our country and are missing limbs, vision, and in many cases their ability to communicate and mentally function. But when Scot starts a song, you see these patients start to react and move to the music. You can really see and feel the emotional connection and impact of how music can touch people through Project Playback.”

Click to watch the video of Amos Lee, Mutlu, and Adrian Reju talking about the Musicians On Call program

The 7th Annual Musicians On Call Benefit Concert featuring Josh Ritter, Lizanne Knott, Suzie Brown, Scot Sax, and Kuf Knotz begins at 7:30 p.m. at World Cafe Live; tickets to the all-ages show are $25. Proceeds benefit WXPN Musicians On Call.

Listen to Scot Sax’s Free At Noon performance at World Cafe Live

The Key — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:08:57 +0000

We’d like to give a special thank you to Scot Sax. Two weeks ago, when Nicole Atkins was forced to cancel her Free At Noon performance hours before the show because of the weather, it sent the WXPN staff scrambling to find a last-minute replacement. Then, WXPN favorite (and knight in shining armor) Scot Sax offered to bring his Queen Electric power trio over to World Cafe Live to fill in on an emergency basis. Without him, who knows what would have happened. (We imagine it would have involved an empty stage, and the majority of the station’s staff sitting around the WCL bar crying into their early-afternoon beers.) Thanks again, Scot!

Click here to listen to Scot Sax’s performance.

(Photo courtesy of Ipso Photo)

Free At Noon Update: Nicole Atkins forced to cancel due to weather; Scot Sax With Queen Electric to perform

The Key — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:04:08 +0000

This just in: Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins, originally scheduled to play today’s Free At Noon concert at World Cafe Live, has been forced to cancel her performance due to weather conditions in New York. Anyone who follows Atkins on Twitter got the blow-by-blow account of her frustrating—and, ultimately, futile—attempt to drive down to Philadelphia for the show earlier this morning:

We don’t have to tell you how much that sucks, because Atkins pretty much says it all. (“Uggghhhh” sums it up very succinctly.) We’ll let you know when she’s able to reschedule. On the plus side, WXPN favorite Scot Sax will be bringing his Queen Electric power trio to WCL to fill in on a last-minute basis. So there will still be a show today.

Helen Leicht’s 2nd Annual XPN Local “Home For The Holidays” show tonight at 10 p.m.

The Key — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:22:09 +0000

Tonight at 10 p.m., Helen Leicht is hosting the second annual “Home For The Holidays” show, which was recorded at the home of Scot Sax and includes performances by Sax, Chris Kasper, Suzie Brown, Phil D’Agostino, The Fleeting Ends, and others. The set is highlighted by John Galla’s cover of Alan Mann’s little-known 1983 Christmas song “Christmas On The Block,” which is about the blind residents of a group house in Upper Darby, who—despite their inability to see—made an annual tradition of decorating a Christmas tree in front of their home. You can check out the full set list—as well as a video preview (recorded by none other than Kuf Knotz)—below; tune in later tonight to listen to the show.

1. Scot Sax “Holiday Road”
2. Chris Kasper “Silver Bells”
3. Suzie Brown “By the Mark”
4. Phil D’Agostino “O Christmas Tree”
5. The Fleeting Ends “Little Drummer boy”
6. John Galla “Winter Wonderland”
7. John Galla “Christmas On The Block”
8. John Stanton “Father Christmas”
9. Jake Snider “A Holiday”
10. Brad Hinton “Blue Christmas”
11. All “Imagine”