Albums

Scott Cooley has typically released approximately one full-length studio album containing at least thirteen songs every two years, and has done so on the summer solstice in even numbered years since the late 90s, although the earlier cassettes are now out of print. Each album page (linked to below) allows you to navigate deeper to detailed individual song subpages for each song on each album. The albums are available as CDs for the highest quality sound; in lossless WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and AIFF formats; or in lower-fidelity, lossy formats MP3 (320k or V0), AAC and Ogg Vorbis whether as digital album or individual song downloads that are compatible with any device, platform, or player software. While listening digitally on your smartphone, smart speaker, smart TV, ipod, tablet or computer, the album & song pages of this site indexed below let you dive in to the visual experience of the LP record album - with descriptions, instrumentation, personnel, artwork, photos, lyrics, liner notes, and more! To learn more about them, read the brief descriptions below, then go to the respective album page (subpage within this site) for each by clicking the title link or album cover image:

2004

http://www.scottcooley.com/albums/moon-dreams

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

www.scottcooley.com/albums/used-to-be-good-looking

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

www.scottcooley.com/albums/rest-assured

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

www.scottcooley.com/albums/missing-the-boat

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

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

www.scottcooley.com/albums/bluebird-days-ii

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 and love.

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 or 3 cover songs of public domain or traditional songs, arranged by Scott.

  • 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; plays a non-upright acoustic bass guitar; plays rhythm & lead ukulele; plays piano & organ via MIDI keyboard; plays harmonica; plays marimba; plays 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 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.

Buy Now

To buy them now, go to the Scott Cooley Online Store, where you'll find many purchasing options, or use the Shop now buttons below to go directly to Amazon:

Related Pages

Discography | Records | CDs | Store