Scott O'Kelley: Walls of Goddamned Noise and Sound

"When I experienced some of the Heathens crowds, I realized that getting jostled and getting beer spilled on you can be kind of fun."

Photo courtesy of Scott O'Kelley

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I met Scott O’Kelley at the Nuci’s Space fundraiser during HeAthens Homecoming 2026, and he had a really kind, calming energy. Which makes sense now that I know he’s a mental health counselor. He’s also a serious collector. When Scott joined our video call from his home in Jefferson City, MO, he sat in front of one of the most impressive walls of vinyl I have ever seen; he estimates he owns at least 5,000 records. "It's like the Heathens version of the bookshelf," he says.

His introduction to Drive-By Truckers arrived in the form of a cassette, a letter, and a 45. In the late '90s, Scott worked at an alt-weekly in Durham, NC, where he copyedited and compiled the weekly entertainment calendar, among other tasks. Which meant opening all of the packages from bands passing through town — including DBT, who mailed in a cassette of the soon-to-be-released Gangstabilly album, a 45 of “Nine Bullets” and “Bulldozers and Dirt,” and a handwritten letter from Patterson Hood.

"What was so cool about it was the 45, because back then it was all CDs," Scott says. "I've always loved 45s, and so I was like, this band must be pretty cool." Nearly 20 years later, Scott still has the cassette and the 45. "I wish I had the letter, but unfortunately, a cat puked on it, and didn't survive."

Keep reading for my full conversation with Scott, including the best answer I’ve ever heard to the question, "What’s your Lynyrd Skynyrd?"

Based on your DBT discovery story, I assume you worked as a journalist before you were a mental health counselor?

Yeah, I lived for about three or four years in Durham, when my former wife (girlfriend at the time) went to grad school at Duke. At the time, I was a freelance writer who did a little of everything. I was a copy editor, advertising and marketing, freelance. The fun stuff didn't pay as much as the non-fun stuff. When I was in advertising, I really hated it. It was a soul-sucking job. This big pharmaceutical company was our big client, so I felt like I was working for Satan. That's when I got the idea of going back to grad school, because I liked counseling.

What kind of counseling had you done before you got your counseling degree?

I was just a client. When I went to counseling for the first time, it wasn’t anything dramatic, just typical early 30s malaise, what do I do with my life? So I went to counseling, and I really loved it.

And I hear you're retiring soon?

10 months. I've been working for the state for 15 years. I was the Behavioral Health Director for the state prisons in Missouri for a while, and now I’m with the Department of Mental Health.

Do you feel like working in mental health impacts your relationship with music or vice versa? Do you feel like you come to music with a different perspective?

I think it's the same perspective as other folks who get a charge or uplift with music, but maybe I recognize it in a different way. I'm very aware of how therapeutic it is for me.

"The line about leaning back under the microphone, 'turn your demons into walls of goddamned noise and sound' — if more people could do that, just think how healthy we would be."

One of the first things I really picked up on with the Truckers was how much of their music is about people's mental health, and it's presented in a very sympathetic way. I remember distinctly the first time I heard "Do It Yourself." Suicide is such a touchy topic, especially when someone is kind of berating the person who killed himself.

From a mental health perspective, one of the things we try to talk to people about is that everyone's going to have these feelings. Someday you're going to probably feel like you want to die, and that's OK, let's talk about it. Don't keep it a secret, don't act like it's this dirty shame. The line about leaning back under the microphone, “turn your demons into walls of goddamned noise and sound” — if more people could do that, just think how healthy we would be.

"Do It Yourself" really struck me, because that is such an honest appraisal of what someone goes through and the people who are left behind and their struggles. It was very respectful, and I love the truth behind it. Then on the same album, there's "When the Pin Hits the Shell," which is the same thing from another voice. "Women Without Whiskey" is a really great one for recovery. There’s so many.

When I wrote about "We Will Never Wake You Up in the Morning," you messaged me privately about a DBT fan named Smitty, who you said "would have been everyone’s favorite interview." I’d love to hear more about him.

He was someone I met through Nine Bullets. What really struck me about him was he knew so much about music. He had a totally encyclopedic knowledge of old country, blues, rock and roll, alt-country and Americana-adjacent stuff. I got to meet him when I went to Homecoming the first time, and he was such a warm, funny guy.

Everybody loved him, and he obviously had some demons he couldn't tame. Many of us would help him out, and there's the point where you wonder, is my help really helping? Is it enabling? Because of my background, I look for that point where you have to pull back, and it's hard.

I don't know the details of his struggles, but his life ended. I think it was right after or during that COVID break, somewhere between the first Homecoming I went to and when they started up again. It was really sad. He had a great family, kids that he loved, and all that. Everyone just really loved him. It’s such a tight community, it’s like losing a family member.

Before you discovered Drive-By Truckers, what was your musical taste like?

My first big musical crush, I guess, was Neil Young. I’m an only child, so my exposure to music was what I'd hear on the radio or see on TV. But my best friend Randall, he had an older brother who was into really good music. He would always give me cassettes, and the first time I ever heard Neil Young, it was on a CSNY album. I remember listening to it and thinking "They're OK, but man, a couple of their songs are really good." And then, digging through a record store one day, I was like, "oh, Neil Young. He's the guy that's in that band." So discovered him that way and left Crosby, Stills, and Nash behind.

So the songs you liked were the Neil Young songs.

Yeah. I distinctly remember "Cowgirl in the Sand" on 4 Way Street totally blew me away. But I grew up with lots and lots and lots of music. My dad was a music fan, and he had tons of records and a great stereo. His stuff was like Kansas City jazz and R&B and blues and old country. So I grew up around music, but he wasn't a rock and roll fan. I had to depend on my friends for that.

"It felt like, for the first time, I was at the cool kids' table."

When you discovered the Heathens community, what did that offer you that was missing in your life?

It felt like, for the first time, I was at the cool kids' table. Like I said, I'm an only child, and for most of my life, music has been a pretty individual pursuit. Probably my favorite way to enjoy music is to play a record and enjoy it by myself. I grew up in a really small town in Arkansas, right on the Oklahoma line. Apart from a friend or two, there was not a community where I could sit down and talk about punk rock records I was discovering. The first place I really encountered that was on the Nine Bullets message board. They were friendly, very encouraging and welcoming. I'd never really experienced that with music before.

Yeah, not judgy or petty music nerds.

Yeah. When I worked in a record store, almost everyone I worked with was the Jack Black character from High Fidelity. I was more like the Dick character. I liked a wide array of stuff, and I just got tired of the snobbishness. I was getting free tickets to shows all the time and getting tired of the crowd. Plus, that coincided with grad school, so I was busy and I was broke. I was a DBT fan for probably a decade before I went to a show.

Oh, wow! So when was your first Truckers concert?

It was in St. Louis at The Pageant in 2008. There were people there from Nine Bullets, they came from all over. I thought, OK, this is a crowd that is really into it, so they're going to be a lot of fun to hang out with.

Did that experience inspire you to pursue more concerts or was it more of a slow ease-in?

It was slow. I was just starting a new career. I was living in Jefferson City, which is two hours between either St. Louis or Kansas City, so it was a trek. I was of the mind that I enjoyed the records more. I enjoy listening and not being jostled by crowds and getting beer spilled on me. When I experienced some of the Heathens crowds, I realized that getting jostled and getting beer spilled on you can be kind of fun.

"Artists probably should not be on my bucket list, because it truly is a bucket list."

And how many times have you been to Homecoming?

My first one was 2020. I am 66 years old, so I was turning 60 that year and I thought, hell, if I don’t go now, I'm never going to go. My wife was very supportive, like "absolutely, you should go." I knew there would be a lot of people there who I "knew" from online. I just can’t believe I never came sooner, because it's just so perfect. That was the first one, and then the next year there wasn't one because of Covid, so that’s six.

I like how this community has turned you from a solo music enjoyer to an extroverted seeker of community.

It’s just the right amount. I'm pretty comfortable socially, but I do need a little bit of a rest time to recharge my batteries at Homecoming or something. But it's so comfortable, it's such a comfortable crowd.

Do you know how many shows you've been to, total?

I'm not much of a guy for keeping score, so I’ve never really counted. I'm somewhere in the 40 to 50 range. The bulk of them have probably been in the last five years. It used to be like once a year.

Are there any shows that really stand out in your head as your favorites?

Obviously, the first Homecoming was just so amazing. I had never met Dr. John [Contovasilis] in person, but he was going to be one of my guides. I met up with him and he's like, "Hey, you want to go to sound check?" I'd never been to the 40 Watt before. There's this big leather couch in the middle of the floor, back from the stage, and he and I are sitting on it, and there's family, wives, kids running around, and workers and staff and whoever. They're up on stage, running through their set. Then John says, "oh, hey, I have to run and do something. I'll be back." Other people start leaving, and here I am, by myself, on this couch in front of the band. I’m really having a great time but also getting a little nervous, like I don't want to be that fan guy that seems like a stalker. That was pretty memorable.

Yeah, no kidding. It's like a private concert in your living room.

Yeah, and I got to see Linqua Franqa. She came out and practiced "Babies in Cages." And John goes, "You’ve got to keep that a secret," because it was going to be this big surprise.

Another show that really stands out was my second time seeing them at The Pageant. I went with my former brother-in-law, who is a huge music fan, and he and I bonded over music. He loved the Truckers, and he passed away last year, so getting to see that show with him was really special.

Is there a song that you have listened to more than any other?

It's hard to say because I'm more of an album guy. If I play something, it's usually all the way through.

I respect that.

I really love 45s, so some nights I like making my real-time mixtapes and just playing one cut after another. When I do that, it's very common that when I'm winding down and done for the night, "Let There Be Rock" is such a great closer, so I would guess that's probably the one I played the most.

Is there any song you really like that you feel is underplayed or underappreciated?

One that I've always wanted to hear live, and I have not, is "Dragon Pants."

I don't even know that song!

"Dragon Pants" came out on a Record Store Day EP. It’s a very funny piece. "Dragon Pants" is a guy essentially like singing to his girlfriend. "If I was Jimmy Page, I would wow you with my double neck guitar and my prowess" and "do cocaine off of strippers' asses," that kind of thing. It’s a very unique, subtle love song, but also a love song to rock and roll excess. I always imagine it's the kid from Betamax Guillotine singing that to his girlfriend.

I've never heard that live, although during Covid, when they were doing those attic shows, Patterson did a request show, and so I requested "Dragon Pants." He did it, so I kind of got to hear it live, but not live, live.

Do you have a favorite DBT song to sing along with?

I know it's "Let There Be Rock." If I'm at home — and if I'm at home by myself, especially — I can turn it up loud. And live, especially at Homecoming, "The Company I Keep." That was never really one of my favorite songs, but with everyone there, it's just totally fun, kind of cathartic

What would you say is the most DBT superfan thing about you?

I think the most superfan thing about me is that I know a lot of DBT superfans.

Maybe you don't have an answer to this question, because you weren't really a concert guy before, but is there any band that you wish you'd seen live but didn't? AKA, your Lynyrd Skynyrd?

OK, so this is the most unpunk rock story about punk rock that you'll ever hear. I grew up right on the Oklahoma line in Arkansas, and Tulsa was like two hours away. In high school, I was getting into punk rock and finding obscure records and trying to keep up with music as best as I could in a town of 6,000 people in Arkansas.

When I experienced some of the Heathens crowds, I realized that getting jostled and getting beer spilled on you can be kind of fun.

There was a record store in Fayetteville, and the guy who ran it was — I swear — the model for the comic book guy in The Simpsons. He was like a hippie, but he was also a punk. I bought a used copy of Nevermind the Bollocks from him when I was in high school, and he's like, "you know, they're going to be in Tulsa?" Sex Pistols were going to play Kane's Ballroom in Tulsa, and it was like this second-to-last or third-to-last stop on their American tour. So I'm like, "oh man, I’ve got to go."

But I'm 17 years old, I didn’t have any friends who would want to go, and I didn't have a car. I'm gonna have to borrow my parents' car to drive two hours at night to see the Sex Pistols in Tulsa. This was in January of ’78 and it was a Wednesday night or something, and there was this horrible blizzard, snow everywhere, terrible. And my mom was like, "No."

So that's my, that's my Leonard Skynyrd. I never saw the Sex Pistols, but my mom sure said, "no, you can't drive to go see them."

What a great story though.

I'm a big jazz fan. I was going to see Art Pepper, and he died right before he was coming. I was going to see Dexter Gordon, he died. I missed out on seeing James Brown four times. Once he rescheduled, once he was sick, one time he was in jail, and then the last time he died. Artists probably should not be on my bucket list, because it truly is a bucket list.

Any movies, books, or records you would like to recommend to other fans and or me check out?

There's a band out of Miami called Las Nubes that I discovered by accident on Bandcamp, because I like to go on and see what's new. They're a three- or four-piece female punk band. They put out a couple of records, and they're a lot of fun.

I’m also a big Terry Allen fan, and he's someone that I think Heathens really would appreciate. He's actually like half visual artist and half musician. He does sculptures and these musician-slash-performance-art kind of things. He has a book called Truckload of Art that's about his story. He grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and he's been making music for for a long time. It’s sort of artsy outlaw country. He reminds me, in a way, of Willy Vlautin, if Vlautin was a West Texas country artist instead.

She may be old news to DBT fans, but Merce Lemon was another accidental discovery from a couple of years ago. Again, just from moseying around on Bandcamp and checking out the new releases, I ran across her '24 album Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild and it became one of my favorites of the year. And that was a pretty big year. She'd be a great opener for Homecoming.

I’m trying to compile a list of great dive bars, crowdsourced from Heathens, so if you have any dive bars that you would recommend, would love to hear 'em.

Currently my favorite dive bar is right here, down in the basement with the records.

For more about Scott and his incredible record collection, check out this Q&A on I Have That On Vinyl and this beautiful piece he wrote about his former wife and their record collections.