For this week’s Local Music Monday DeBraun Thomas features a southern-born musician who’s made Lexington his home.
Scott Whiddon is a native of Greenville County, South Carolina and moved from New Orleans to Lexington in 2006. Whiddon started playing guitar at a young age and has always been passionate about two things, music and academics. As a professor at Transylvania University, Whiddon has also been able to experience both of these passions and says he has a special connection to Lexington.
“Since I’ve been here, there’s been such a growth and such a development, not just for music but for the arts community in this town, for literature, for painting, for music, all of this coming together in sort of a sweet confluence, you can’t… just, walking around downtown you’re gonna run into amazing artists and amazing people and it’s an inspiring place to be”
That inspiration continued in 2009 when Whiddon started the band Palisades with Neil Bell. Palisades will be releasing 3 Eps a year the first being Handshake Codes. Handshake Codes was recorded at Shangri-la Productions and Whiddon says this particular EP is special to him because of the experiences he gained along the way.
“When we went in to record with Duane and Tom, we got better at what we do, we learned from them, we have big ears and we were not hesitant to take criticism or commentary and those guys said ‘what if you tried this and this’ and they became part of that moment and I think what happened when we left the studio, we were better.”
Scott Whiddon performs with the band Palisades. The EP Handshake Codes is available online and in stores. More information about Whiddon and Palisades can be found on facebook or at palisades.bandcamp.com.