Blues & Beyond: Cigar Box Scott

Old Songs Made New: Scott wraps traditional folk songs in driving, crowd-pleasing rhythms

As Cigar Box Scott, Scott Atkinson presents traditional and classic folk and roots music in a completely new way. With strong rhythms and a driving beat, he takes songs he loves and gives them new life, making them accessible for audiences of all types on cigar box guitar and his homemade foot stompbox.

The cigar box guitar brings the songs to life: Think ‘‘Banjo-meets-Delta-blues-guitar’‘

A longtime folkie and musician, when Scott got his hands on a cigar box guitar for the first time in spring 2022, it changed everything. “I could finally play these old songs the way I’ve always wanted.” Unlike most cigar box players who focus on blues and rock, Scott took to it like it was a banjo, combining melodies and rhythms for old-time, bluegrass, blues, and folk songs. Old songs get new rhythms, chords, and sometimes completely new melodies.

Scott’s Folk Pedigree: Managing Editor at Sing Out! Magazine

Scott worked at iconic folk music journal Sing Out! Magazine from 2000 – 2006. Under the mentorship of Mark D. Moss, he gained an even greater appreciation for this music. Scott had the pleasure of working with Pete Seeger and was the organizer of the Pete Seeger Tribute Concert, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, featuring Pete ,Natalie Merchant, July Collins, Janis Ian, Bruce Cockburn, and many others.

Author of a Traditional Songbook

Scott is the author The Essential Bluegrass & Old-Time Songbook, a collection of 50 traditional songs for jamming and song circles with melodies, chords, lyrics, and stories and background. He has several other songbooks of traditional songs planned.