Scott Low brings Americana music, bride to Full Circle for Oct. 3 show

Scott Low got engaged in New York City during a break between gigs. For the wedding, he threw a mini-music festival, having six bands set up in rodeo arena in the mountains of North Georgia.

“I called all my friends who I knew would play my wedding for free,” says Low, the Athens, Georgia-based indie-folk troubadour.

So, Low’s 2015 “Honeymoon” tour makes sense in the most literal way.

Last week, the newlyweds grabbed their dog, piled in a minivan (an upgrade from Low’s old Chevy station wagon) and headed out on a 6,500-mile, 38-day cross-country solo tour. Low will play 22 dates, including Saturday, Oct. 3, at Full Circle Brewing Co.

The tour was wife Nicole Kelley’s idea, Low says, though he was fine with it, because he’s a gigging musician and the pair are used to life on the road.

His wife doesn’t play, though she’s been known to sing backup, and Low is trying to get her to join him on stage often. Mostly, she sets up and sells her own line of all-natural locally sourced soaps and deodorants. On a good night, they can make more than the bar pays him to play, he says.

The honeymoon will be Low’s first trek to the West Coast (and California specifically) and will allow the singer to shop his album, “The New Vintage,” to record labels. He’s set up several meetings along the way, including two in Los Angeles.

Musically, Low fits with the push of Americana music that has been popularized in the last few years by guys like Sturgill Simpson. But it’s also genre-bending – jam-band folk music made from a songwriter with a degree in jazz who is proud of the new cowboy hat he bought for this tour. Think the Grateful Dead if they played country.

During solo shows, Low creates his own sonic layers by using effects pedals and loops from electric, acoustic and steel guitars.

“I definitely get a full band feel going,” he says.

In a way, Low is on the road evangelizing for guys like himself, the ones traveling the country in junked up station wagons playing 200 or more shows a year in theaters, bars and people’s living rooms, because that’s what they do.

“I’ve got 50 friends on the road out there sweatin’ and playing,” he says.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Scott Low brings Americana music, bride to Full Circle for Oct. 3 show."