‘I want to leave a legacy’: Scott musician joined by plenty of friends on latest release

The name that Scott musician Dave Molter chose for his latest album drew questions of concern from at least one of his friends.

“It’s a title,” he told her. “Don’t worry about it.”

Actually, the idea for what to call the nine-song release came from Molter’s co-producer, Al Snyder, who had lamented his printer displaying a message to the effect of:

“Approaching End of Usable Life.”

For Molter, the phrase proved to be thought-provoking.

“At my age, I am approaching the end of my usable life. Not in a negative way, but I’m a realist. I’m getting old,” he said. “As people get older, what do they think about?”

So he channeled his pondering into writing a song.

“I want to leave a legacy. I have to leave something behind so that nobody forgets,” he said. “And that’s what the lyrics are.”

The eventual title track opens the album of originals, with Snyder co-composing three of the songs along with Molter, now 73. For some of them, the genesis dates back half a century.

“I’ve had them lying around, and people say, ‘How can you even remember?’ So I’m blessed with a memory in that way, because I wrote the lyrics down but I never really wrote the music down,” Molter said. “I just knew what the music was supposed to be.”

He gives considerable credit to Snyder for the album’s finished product.

“I’ll give Al a demo, and if he thinks he can improve it, he’ll make suggestions,” he said. “And 90% of the time, his suggestions are better. He’s great to work with, and I’ve known Al for more than 50 years.”

Molter, in fact, brought in plenty of Pittsburgh-area musical associates for the project, including members of the Soulville Horns, Phil Brontz, George Arner and Stephen Graham. Playing drums on the majority of tracks is Joey Waslousky, who has worked with Molter in the past, and other contributors are vocalist Lisa Klein Bleil, percussionist Tom Compton, accordion player John DeCola, trumpet player Naomi Jarvis, drummer Ron Orrico, and guitarists Dave Flodine, Danny Gochnour and George “Zeus” Marcinko.

On a bittersweet note, Molter’s longtime collaborator Buddy Hall played guitar, sang and worked as producer on two tracks before he died in early 2021. “R.I.P., Magic Budster,” the credits say.

On a more upbeat note, a recent single from the album, “All the Answers,” features singer-songwriter Annemarie Picerno from Nashville, Tenn., whom Molter has yet to meet in person: “We’re Internet buddies.”

The tune has its origins as Molter’s long-ago commentary on situations that can arise for working musicians.

“I knew there should be a woman involved,” he said about Picerno’s vocals, “because part of the story is that the guy is having an affair, basically. So he blows off his old girlfriend for the new girlfriend, and after a few months, the new girlfriend tells him, ‘I only really liked you because you played in a band.’”

In that context, he told Picerno, “‘Seem like you’re mad, ’cause you’re telling me off.’ And she did. She did a great job.”

Success story

The song did a great job, too, debuting at No. 1 in March on Banks Radio Australia, an Internet station featuring unsigned artists from all around the world. Molter, in fact, has scored a slew of such hits, primarily internationally, since resuming his musical pursuits in earnest three years ago with the recording and release of the five-song “Foolish Heart.”

“At the time, I thought, I should just do this,” he said. “I have these songs. I like doing this. I’ll just put it out, and I really didn’t expect anyone to pay attention.”

But some folks in some far-away places did, in a big way.

“That’s pretty cool at any age, let alone being 70 years old and you wake up and you see your song’s No. 1 in South Africa. How did that happen?” Molter said. “But I’ll take it.”

He subsequently released the full-length “It Was You,” a critical success that was nominated as U.S. Album of the Year in the 2021 International Singer Songwriter Association Awards, for which Molter also received a nomination for top male vocalist. And the title track — which was inspired by 1960s-era “up-tempo, sunny, happy, sometimes silly tunes with catchy choruses,” along with Molter’s girlfriend, Pam Bice — was nominated as Pop/Contemporary Male Song of the Year for the seventh Annual Josie Music Awards in Nashville.

Speaking of the ’60s, Molter was a teenager when he joined the vast majority of U.S. television viewers in watching the Beatles’ February 1964 debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” As was the case with many musically minded young Americans of the time, he experienced an epiphany.

“They just opened the door to whole new possibilities for kids like me,” he said. “Especially where I grew up, in the Beaver Valley, you were going to go work in a mill, or you were going to work retail or something. There weren’t a whole lot of options. But that just opened the door, and I’ll be eternally grateful for that.”

By the 1970s, Molter was playing in a band called Pyewacket that released a 45 on a label called Western World Music, and he composed the A-side, “Boogie, Boogie, Boogie.”

He kept up his musical pursuits while working in other fields, including journalism, before retiring and deciding to take the recording part seriously again.

Shady Mugs

He also has returned to working with a group, playing bass guitar with Shady Mugs, which specializes in Southern rock and has built a formidable fan base with its energetic covers of songs by the likes of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Molter, in fact, is one of three new Mugs for 2022, as various circumstances necessitated the replacement of fully half the band. Also joining founding members “Buffalo” Bob Ridgeway of Bethel Park on drums and Mark Maguda of Jefferson Hills on guitar, along with Harry Levicky on keyboards, are recent recruits Jeremy Payne, vocals, and Braden Esposito, guitar.

“This is the biggest transition we’ve come across since we’ve been together,” Ridgeway said, to the point where the remaining members considered: “We’re just not going to be able to do anything for the whole year, until we find some guys.”

Fortunately, Levicky had performed with Molter in the past, and they both had played alongside Stan Esposito, guitarist for the Pittsburgh band Shot O’ Soul and Braden’s dad. Ridgeway recalled Levicky saying:

“I’ll tell you what. I know of a guy who’s only in his 20s, but he’s mature for his age and for his musicianship.”

Levicky knew what he was talking about, as far as the other Mugs were concerned.

“He’s a great player,” Molter said, “well-suited for this band.”

Bringing in Braden Esposito left the front man’s spot to fill.

“That was the hardest part of getting a replacement, was a singer. We went through a few,” Ridgeway said, before Payne came aboard. The band now has five members who provide vocals, leading to potential additions to the repertoire that employ plenty of harmony.

The repertoire also looks to include some of Molter’s originals.

“We want to do a couple of his own songs and push that out to the crowd,” Ridgeway said, “and help him get more and more established in this area.”

Shady Mugs returns to the stage over Memorial Day weekend, on May 27 at 31 Sports Bar & Grille in Collier and May 30 at the Tiki Bar in Union Township.

For more information, visit davemoltermusic.com and www.facebook.com/Shady-Mugs-1694099547485475.