MUSIC

Goode's Armadillo Palace presents Scott Wiggins. (acoustic)

The Scott Wiggins Band’s third album has been a long time coming—but it was worth the wait. Frontman and principal songwriter Scott Wiggins began crafting his new songs three years ago, amassing a library of more than 100 tunes that was eventually whittled down to the nine originals (plus one outside song) that make up the group’s new album, A Thousand Words. The band started preproduction in September 2009, and took time to hone in on the sound they were looking for—one the members call “progressive country.” “It’s been a long process, but I think that’s a good thing,” Wiggins says. “You take the time and write the right songs instead of throwing something random on there.”

The result is an album that reflects the enormous musical growth the Scott Wiggins Band has demonstrated throughout its career, beginning when Wiggins and drummer John Diaz first began jamming together almost a decade ago. The two met bass player Ryan Fedako while attending college at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. “When we first met, we all lived together with a bunch of people in the house in college,” recalls Diaz. “We get along great. We’re like brothers, but everybody has a different personality. We’re good together.”

The band members clicked on both a personal and musical level, drawing from a shared pool of influences that range from fellow Texas-based acts like Pat Green to more mainstream country artists like Gary Allan, and from classic rockers like Elvis Presley and the Beatles to 1990s alternative rock. “But over the last five years we’ve realized that I’m essentially a country singer,” Wiggins says. “We can rock it up, but we sound more grown-up and polished now.”