Coast 2 Coast Closeup – Scotty Kipfer

When Scotty Kipfer first moved to Nashville, he became friends with Chip Davis, a member of Alabama’s touring band, and a prominent background vocalist in town who has sung on records for everyone from Blake Shelton and Billy Currington to Brooks and Dunn and Jeannie Seely. Scotty had been away from his family for a few months at this point, and Chip began inviting him to birthday and holiday celebrations. “I felt like an honorary member of the Davis family,” Scotty recalls. “I’ll never forget the night I went to Chip’s birthday party and met his father, Raymond, for the first time.” Raymond was 82 at the time, a spritely old retired southern preacher with a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye. At the end of the night, Raymond put his arm around Scotty, walked him to his car, and said, “Well Scotty, drive safe, and May the Good Lord Take a Liking to You.” Scotty knew he had to turn this parting blessing into a song.

A few weeks later, Scotty finally sat down to write it, and the words fell out onto the page as if by magic. The melody presented itself just as effortlessly, and the result is a cheeky, nostalgic blessing for the everyman.

“I ran into my friends Shane and Stacey Lee Guse in a hotel bar at the CCMAs that year,” says Scotty. “I told them about this song, and we started making plans to record it together with the rest of the Western Swing Authority at our pal Jason Barry’s Barrytone Studios.”

The musical personalities and proficiency of the members of WSA shine through, and the performance is masterfully mixed by Dustin Olyan.

The CCMA Award winning Western Swing Authority is:

Shane Guse

Stacey Lee Guse

Paul Chapman

Ed Ringwald

Dan Howlett

Matthew Lima

Jimmy Boudreau

Listen to the interview