Scott Nygaard
Scott Nygaard is without a doubt, one of the most inventive and original guitarists in the bluegrass/acoustic music scene. Downbeat magazine has called him "a phenomenally talented stylist." His solos, a seamless amalgam of bluegrass, folk, and jazz influences, shift easily from breathtaking virtuosity to soulful melodic musings and his accompaniment is always intriguing, supportive and propulsive.
Scott was the guitarist with Tim O'Brien's band, the O'Boys, from 1992 to 1997, and in addition to leading his own group, Crow Molly, currently performs with a variety of ensembles: Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, the Anonymous 4, Bill Evans String Summit, the Matt Flinner Trio, the Roger Tallroth/Scott Nygaard Duo, and others. He has also performed and recorded with such acoustic music stars as Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, Tony Furtado, Laurie Lewis, Todd Phillips, and David Grisman, receiving numerous Grammy nominations for his stellar sidemanship. He was the guitarist on three recordings that have proven to be extremely influential on the contemporary acoustic music scene: Chris Thile’s "Leading Off," Tim O’Brien’s "Red on Blonde," and Jerry Douglas’s "Slide Rule."
Initially influenced by Doc Watson, Clarence White, Django Reinhardt and Riley Puckett, Scott spent many years wandering the sea of American music that includes bluegrass, jazz, Cajun, western swing and rock and roll. This diverse musical education, which primarily took place in the fertile Pacific Northwest, helped form a style which can truly be called Scotts own. Scott has released two solo albums on Rounder Records, the second of which, Dreamer's Waltz, was nominated for an Indie award by the Association for Independent Music. He is currently finishing a duo album with Swedish folk guitarist Roger Tallroth, and an album of original music with his new group, Scott Nygaard and Crow Molly.
A senior editor at Acoustic Guitar magazine, Scott has written hundreds of articles on music, musicians, guitars, and guitarists for Acoustic Guitar, Strings, Play Guitar!, and Guitar World Acoustic; authored two instruction books, Bluegrass Guitar Essentials and Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs for Beginning Guitar (both String Letter Publishing/Hal Leonard); produced an instructional video, Bluegrass Lead Guitar (Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop), and taught at music workshops from Fairbanks to Finland. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, photographer Anne Hamersky, and their son, Josef.
Scott is also a co-founder of the renowned Republic of Strings, along with his long time associate, Darol Anger.
