As the director of ticketing operations and event management, Terrence Scott is a familiar face at games and other athletic events on campus. You might also recognize him as a former member of the Lions football team, having played as a defensive back from 2006-10.

But if you tuned in to the university’s virtual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration this year, you would have seen and heard another side of Scott, who provided live and pre-recorded music for the event. A multi-instrumentalist since a young age, he has recorded two EP’s of his praise music in the last few years, with a third on the way this summer.

 

Getting started

(Worship music) is where my heart is. I guess you could say it’s my roots.

However, I love to write music about my wife, about life, about my journey. I just haven’t published any of those songs yet, but they are in the catalogue.

My grandparents raised me in Jasper, Texas. They’ve been pastors for over 50 years now. Around the age of 6 or 7, I started beating around on the drums at their church. From there, I went from the drums to the organ, and then from the organ to the piano, and then I settled on the acoustic guitar.

I love the acoustic guitar. It’s one of my favorite instruments ever, but I’ll play pretty much anything I can get my hands on.

 

Inspiration

For me, it’s a combination of all of it (melody and lyrics). I’ve written songs that came to me as a spontaneous thought in the middle of the night … 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning, the idea hits me and I wake up and have to jot it down on the voice memo app on my phone. From there, I branch out and build the song. A few years ago, I was working in HR and was in my office when a song came to mind. I quickly jotted down lyrics on breaks. Inspiration comes in a variety of ways, and you just have to be ready when it comes.

The biggest thing for me personally is writing from experience and writing from my own journey, because I tend to sing it better. It comes from a deeper place … a place of purity.

 

Recording

An EP is basically a shortened album … anywhere from two to six songs, typically. I’ve recorded two. The first one (2015’s “Forever Free”) I recorded live here in Joplin. The second (2019’s “More”) was in Kansas City with JTL Group. It’s a group of producers who have worked with ESPN, State Farm – it’s amazing what these guys are doing.

From the beginning, I worked with local talent … guys from my church who are absolutely amazing at what they do. But I’ve also worked with musicians from Kansas City, and we’ve had talent from Nashville, Tenn. You have to pull from different angles and find what works best for the song.

To check out his work, visit terrencescottmusic.com, or listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music or Google Play.