Albums
Scott Cooley has typically released approximately one full-length studio album containing at least a dozen new original songs every two years, and has done so on the summer solstice in even numbered years since the late 90s, although the earlier cassettes and CDs are now out of print. Each album page (linked to below) allows you to navigate deeper into detailed individual song subpages for each song on each album. As of 2022, there are 11 studio albums available for streaming everywhere.
2004
Moon Dreams
Escapism in the form of bluesy acoustic space rock featuring warm, emotional vocals that deliver stories of love and getting away from it all which will likely leave you with an improved perspective of the world around you.
2006
Lakeside Landing
Great Lakes-oriented acoustic rock at its best, this contemporary maritime marvel delivers unique tales of love and wanderlust with hints of Caribbean flavor that will leave you yearning to get back out on the water soon.
2008
Drive Time Companion
Americana at its most real, you’re along for a ride through stories & conversations about love & relationships good, bad & ugly that keep your attention & put you in a much better mood by the time you reach your destination.
2010
Sense Of Belonging
Experience a range of thought-provoking emotions via contemporary folk-rock about the important-yet-simple things in life – appreciation of nature, home, values, legacy, love, family, friendship & making a difference in the world.
2010
A Cooley Christmas
12-25-2010 privately released studio album of cover recordings of eleven of Scott's favorite popular Christmas and holiday songs, not downloadable or for sale, but all songs can be streamed free from the album page.
2012
Cherchez La Femme
Acoustic rock songs, some w/ a country or even cajun/zydeco flavor, about love, relationships & women from a man's perspective, w/ the usual minimal rhythm section, occasional harmonica, marimba & slide, clear & warm vocals.
2014
Used To Be Good Looking
From short/fun to long/serious in its 2nd half w/ hints of jazz, bluegrass, blues & folk, acoustic guitars, an understated rhythm section, harmonica & marimba deliver songs of love, lust, loss, the natural world, & even a MI state song.
2016
Rest Assured
Faster & less serious, but w/ the usual attitude & acoustic style, 13 new originals re: love/relationships, places, & getting coney dogs, w/ touches of zydeco, polka, trad. country & folk punk, 2 featuring Lenore on accordion!
2018
Missing The Boat
Ukulele, piano & sunnier subject matter enhance the typical components in this set of songs about summer relationships & sailing that will brighten your mood & make you pine for an island vacation away from the chilly Midwest.
2020
Bluebird Days
Bold acoustic ski bum garage rock songs with traces of folk, blues, funk, punk, psychedelic, reggae, art rock and Americana mostly about wanting to fly high and ski on sunny powder days in the mountains to escape the blues.
2022
Bluebird Days II
More songs about birds, flight, feeling blue, blue skies and skiing in the sun in new snow from the night before, inspired by Scott's more reckless days as a ski bum in Colorado in the early 90s, one w/ Lenore on accordion!
2022
Lockdown Leftovers
Songs written during and inspired by the pandemic about togetherness, tacos, the fleeting of time, fragility of life, addiction, struggles with communication and money, isolation, cancelled events, nostalgia, loss & love.
2024
Sunrise
A positive, hopeful, happy and mature album of upbeat acoustic rock songs about nostalgia, family, loss, spirituality, reunion, romance, friendship and good fortune that gets a little folky, featuring two songs with Lenore on accordion!
Unique Things
There are unique and interesting things about Scott Cooley albums that each have in common. Here are some:
Album Covers ("artwork," photos, CD packaging, etc.): Scott does all this himself, and does it as fast as possible, using only free software, so it costs him nothing but a little of his own time. Where applicable, the person who took the picture is credited - usually a family member. Amazon requires a certain format for the tray liner, disc face, and booklet. Scott barely meets their graphic file requirements by using SnagIt screen capture software for the whole thing. It is far from perfect, and Scott likes it that way. They call this Art Direction & Design.
Liner Notes: Scott writes all these himself, giving himself well-deserved credit for practically everything. They make for a good read for those inclined.
Track Order: Of course Scott carefully puts the songs on each album in a particular order himself, just as you would a mix tape, so as to hold the listener's attention and maximize the listening experience.
Track Count: There are typically 13 songs on each album, except Used To Be Good Looking, which has 14. The vast majority are originals in which both the music and lyrics were written by Scott, although there have been 2 cover songs of public domain or traditional songs arranged by Scott, and 2 original instrumentals.
Release Dates: Always on or as close as possible to his birthday, which is June 21st, in even-numbered years. No reason, other than well, it's his birthday, and every two years is good amount of time in-between, considering how long it takes to write and record.
Recording Location: Always at Scott Cooley Recording Studio, wherever Scott lives. It has changed from Flint to Grand Blanc to East Lansing over the years as Scott moved. Currently, it's in a spare bedroom in Scott's basement.
Recording Personnel: Just Scott. He is the engineer, the performer, the arranger, the songwriter, the producer, the mixer, the masterer, etc. Once in a while, his lovely wife Lenore is a guest studio musician (accordion, marimba, keyboard, flute and background vocalist). Scott's dogs, Lucky, Levi & Livingston, have served in spiritual guidance roles.
Recording Process: Like producing the album covers, it's all about speed. Scott blogged about it in detail here: http://blog.scottcooley.com/2012/07/my-recording-process.html
Recording Equipment: Most of it is shown and described on this page within this site: Gear
Instrumentation: Scott sings lead & background vocals; plays rhythm, lead & slide acoustic guitar; non-upright acoustic bass guitar; rhythm & lead ukulele; piano, electric piano, organ, cello & flute via MIDI keyboard; harmonica; marimba; mandolin; djembe, snare w/ brush, cymbals, congas, bongos, bhodran, maracas, tambourine, castanets & washboard.
Record Label: Scott Cooley Records, which was formerly known as Cool Breeze Records. SCR is the independent micro-label or netlabel run by Scott Cooley and featuring Scott Cooley as its only recording artist.
Distribution: Scott distributes directly to Amazon for CDs, and directly to Google Play for MP3, and directly to Bandcamp for free streaming, FLAC, OGG, ALAC, AIFF and other formats. Those three sites are cool because they allow this. For the "get your songs in iTunes" part, he used TuneCore for a while, got fed up with their software and prices, then switched to CD Baby, who also aggregate to Spotify, and other popular MP3 download and streaming sites.
Promotion: There isn't any. Scott does, however, notify friends via his web site, blog, email, and social media posts about the availability of each release, which amazingly results in actual sales transactions, mostly from Facebook friends, he suspects.
Related Pages
Discography | Records | CDs | Store | Songs