# Music Inspiration Stories :A Man's Mission of Service to his country and creating music history with Scotty Hasting

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 16 Oct 2025, 16 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/038eec94-1ba4-451d-8945-b08f00e9f877/bf1f4ab2-3d82-4444-94c8-b376012c4ce4/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

Join Host Buzz Knight for a powerful music history episode with Scotty Hasting—Purple Heart recipient, veteran, and accomplished musician. In this heartfelt conversation, Scotty Hasting music opens up about his journey from military service to finding healing and purpose through music. We discuss the experiences that shaped him, the challenges of transitioning from combat to civilian life, and how songwriting became his path to processing trauma and connecting with others. Scotty also shares exciting details about his new EP, "I'm America" offering a glimpse into the stories and emotions behind his latest work. This is a conversation about sacrifice, resilience, and the transformative power of art. Whether you’re a veteran, a music lover, or someone seeking inspiration, Scotty’s story will move you. Takin’ A Walk: In-depth music interviews exploring the stories and music history behind the songs. Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
[0:01] Speaker 2: Today, we're not just taking a walk, We're stepping into
[0:04] Speaker 2: the extraordinary. I'm joined by Scotty Hasting, a purple Heart
[0:09] Speaker 2: recipient who has faced life's toughest battles both on and
[0:14] Speaker 2: off the field. From the battlefield to the stage. Scotty's
[0:18] Speaker 2: journey is a testament to courage, resilience, and reinvention. Now
[0:23] Speaker 2: he's channeling his experiences into powerful new music that inspires
[0:29] Speaker 2: and uplifts. Buzz Night, the host of the Taking a
[0:33] Speaker 2: Walk Podcast. So lace up, tune in, get ready for
[0:37] Speaker 2: a stroll that's going to change how you think about grit,
[0:40] Speaker 2: second chances, and the healing power of song.
[0:47] Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
[0:48] Speaker 2: Scottie Hasting, Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, my friend, thank.
[0:53] Speaker 1: You, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
[0:54] Speaker 2: It's an honor having you on. Before we get into
[0:57] Speaker 2: hearing the many fantastic things that you were up to,
[1:01] Speaker 2: I want to ask first, since we call this podcast
[1:04] Speaker 2: taking a walk, if there's somebody Scotty you could take
[1:07] Speaker 2: a walk with, living or dead. Who might it be
[1:09] Speaker 2: and where would you take that walk?
[1:12] Speaker 1: Yeah? That's easy.
[1:13] Speaker 3: I just lost my dad June first, So my dad,
[1:17] Speaker 3: I don't care where we're walking as long as I'm
[1:19] Speaker 3: with you.
[1:21] Speaker 2: I'm sorry for your loss. I am very very sorry
[1:24] Speaker 2: for loss. Loss runs deep, especially with family members.
[1:30] Speaker 1: Right.
[1:31] Speaker 2: We will never forget about that, and so but thank
[1:35] Speaker 2: you for sharing. And like I said, I appreciate my
[1:37] Speaker 2: condolences on you on your loss. You have had a
[1:42] Speaker 2: whirlwind of a twenty twenty four and a whirlwind of
[1:46] Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, and we want to talk about, certainly
[1:50] Speaker 2: as much of it as you want to talk about.
[1:53] Speaker 2: But I do want to ask you the first moment
[1:56] Speaker 2: growing up in the Cincinnati, the Kentucky neck of the woods. Absolutely,
[2:03] Speaker 2: do you remember the first moment you connected with music.
[2:08] Speaker 1: I was with my dad. My parents were divorced.
[2:12] Speaker 3: My dad lived on the Kentucky side of Cincinnati and
[2:14] Speaker 3: my mom lived on the Ohio side of Cincinnati. And
[2:19] Speaker 3: and yeah, I remember we were with my dad and
[2:22] Speaker 3: I was in the car and.
[2:23] Speaker 1: He played Garth.
[2:25] Speaker 3: Brooks the first time. And that was when I was
[2:28] Speaker 3: sold on country music. I remember we listened. We listened
[2:32] Speaker 3: to that cassette. We listened to one side, we finished it,
[2:35] Speaker 3: took it out, flipped it over, listened to the other side,
[2:37] Speaker 3: and we did that over and over and over again,
[2:40] Speaker 3: and that was his his music. Garth Brook's music is
[2:44] Speaker 3: the music that made me fall in love with country
[2:46] Speaker 3: music and what made me fall in love with music period.
[2:49] Speaker 2: Honestly, isn't it something though, that when you know you've
[2:53] Speaker 2: struck gold with a particular song or you know, a
[2:57] Speaker 2: style or an artist, you know that part of striking
[3:01] Speaker 2: gold is that you continue to just you know, keep
[3:05] Speaker 2: it in and keep playing it over and over again,
[3:08] Speaker 2: whether it's a cassette or an album, right, And that's
[3:11] Speaker 2: the beauty.
[3:12] Speaker 1: It never it never gets old. It's just like something
[3:15] Speaker 1: it just feels right.
[3:17] Speaker 2: So as you think about that moment and then think
[3:20] Speaker 2: about how you continue to be touched by music in
[3:24] Speaker 2: an important way, especially with your unbelievable story of recovery
[3:31] Speaker 2: at Walter Reed, who are some of the artists that
[3:34] Speaker 2: really touched you over time, especially you know as you were,
[3:38] Speaker 2: you know, impacted by this long recovery and found solace
[3:44] Speaker 2: in music.
[3:45] Speaker 3: Sure, you know, I've always been a nineties country guy.
[3:48] Speaker 3: I feel like the nineties were some of the best
[3:51] Speaker 3: time for country music. Honestly, it was incredible. What was
[3:54] Speaker 3: happening in country music was incredible way and but no,
[3:58] Speaker 3: I mean I noticed that as as I got older,
[4:01] Speaker 3: into my recovery after getting shot in Afghanistan and stuff
[4:04] Speaker 3: like that, Like my music, the things that touched me
[4:08] Speaker 3: became different. It wasn't it wasn't just individual artists anymore. Now,
[4:12] Speaker 3: it was songs that like truly touched my soul in
[4:15] Speaker 3: my heart, Like if you're reading this by Tim.
[4:18] Speaker 1: Mcgrawl, I drive your Truck by Lee Rice, like Drank
[4:22] Speaker 1: a Beer by Luke Bryan.
[4:24] Speaker 3: I mean, there's just there's songs that just make you
[4:27] Speaker 3: feel and just and don't even don't even make you feel,
[4:30] Speaker 3: but force you to feel. I mean, the songs that
[4:32] Speaker 3: you can't help yourself. You have to feel what's.
[4:35] Speaker 1: Happening in that song.
[4:36] Speaker 3: And and for me, I think that those are the
[4:38] Speaker 3: most beautiful songs that can happen. And those are the
[4:40] Speaker 3: ones that I truly connected with and still do.
[4:45] Speaker 2: I know there's a number of folks that have been
[4:47] Speaker 2: really important that have sort of on the musical side
[4:50] Speaker 2: of things mentored you first talk about that chance encounter
[4:57] Speaker 2: with the sun of Black River Entertainment president and CEO
[5:02] Speaker 2: Gordon Curer.
[5:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, that was crazy.
[5:06] Speaker 3: It's the most natural story ever, so I was with
[5:10] Speaker 3: my mom one day. She was like, I'm gonna go
[5:13] Speaker 3: buy a car, like, come with me, And I don't
[5:15] Speaker 3: know anything about cars.
[5:16] Speaker 1: I know nothing about it.
[5:17] Speaker 3: But I was like, you know what, moms probably gonna
[5:20] Speaker 3: buy me lunch if I go hang out with her though,
[5:22] Speaker 3: and I love free food, so absolutely I'll go hang
[5:26] Speaker 3: out with my mom.
[5:27] Speaker 1: And you know, so we went and and we went.
[5:31] Speaker 3: To this dealership and the guy who was her salesman
[5:35] Speaker 3: ended up being Michael Kerr, who was Gordon Kerr's son.
[5:38] Speaker 1: At the time, I had no idea who that was.
[5:41] Speaker 3: I didn't know what Black River was, Black River Entertainment,
[5:43] Speaker 3: had no idea who they were. And he just started
[5:46] Speaker 3: talking to me about music. He started talking to me
[5:48] Speaker 3: about you know, at the time, I had one song
[5:50] Speaker 3: out called Trucket, and it was an okay song. I
[5:53] Speaker 3: mainly just put that out because I wanted to see
[5:55] Speaker 3: what it felt like to be in a studio. But
[5:58] Speaker 3: I had that song out, and I started talking to
[6:01] Speaker 3: him about what I want to do with my music,
[6:02] Speaker 3: about how I want to help people, about how I
[6:04] Speaker 3: want to help veterans who are struggling or anyone who's struggling,
[6:07] Speaker 3: and how that's all that matters to me.
[6:09] Speaker 1: I don't care about anything else. I just want to
[6:11] Speaker 1: help people.
[6:12] Speaker 3: And he was like, well, he said, man like, and
[6:15] Speaker 3: I told you more of my story about me getting
[6:16] Speaker 3: shot in Afghanistan and how I've used music as therapy
[6:19] Speaker 3: and how I want to continue to use it and
[6:21] Speaker 3: help and and he's like, man, that's amazing. He said,
[6:25] Speaker 3: I'm going to sa you know, I'm going to send
[6:26] Speaker 3: a little bit of your story and a little bit
[6:29] Speaker 3: of you know, what you want to do with music
[6:31] Speaker 3: and this song to Doug Johnson, who's the an R
[6:34] Speaker 3: at Black River, and to my dad and Gordon Kirk
[6:36] Speaker 3: at Black River. And I was like, oh yeah, man,
[6:39] Speaker 3: i'd be great. Like and you know, Nashville is full
[6:41] Speaker 3: of people who say that they're going to do something
[6:43] Speaker 3: and nothing happens. Well, that's not how this worked. Because
[6:47] Speaker 3: I was like okay, like I'm not gonna hold my breath.
[6:49] Speaker 3: But then three hours later, I get a call from
[6:51] Speaker 3: Doug Johnson saying.
[6:52] Speaker 1: Hey, man, we need to meet.
[6:54] Speaker 3: And I was like, man, I'm in sweatpants right now,
[6:56] Speaker 3: but I'll had that way right now, like I will
[6:58] Speaker 3: be there in ten minutes. And he was like no, like,
[7:00] Speaker 3: let's like, let's put something on the books and we'll
[7:03] Speaker 3: go we'll meet, like I want to talk to you.
[7:04] Speaker 3: And I was like okay.
[7:06] Speaker 1: So I went into Doug Johnson's office and started talking.
[7:09] Speaker 3: Literally five minutes into it, he said, Okay, stop talking,
[7:12] Speaker 3: hold on, we need to go to Gordon Kurr's office.
[7:15] Speaker 3: We need to have this conversation together. I was like okay.
[7:19] Speaker 3: So then we sat down in Gordon's office and we
[7:21] Speaker 3: talked for three hours probably, and it was just about
[7:25] Speaker 3: everything that I want to do and how I want
[7:28] Speaker 3: to help people and how I don't and how I've
[7:31] Speaker 3: used music as therapy and what music means to me
[7:34] Speaker 3: and and uh. And it was an incredible conversation. And
[7:39] Speaker 3: then from that day forward, I I just kind of
[7:42] Speaker 3: became Doug's guy. You know, I didn't know it at
[7:45] Speaker 3: the time, but he was developing me as an artist.
[7:48] Speaker 3: I had no idea at the time, but you know,
[7:50] Speaker 3: it was I was able to get in rooms with
[7:52] Speaker 3: Doug Johnson, who has written some incredible songs that will
[7:55] Speaker 3: truly live forever.
[7:57] Speaker 1: And I was able to get in rooms with these
[7:59] Speaker 1: writers that I.
[8:02] Speaker 3: Could have only imagined ever being able to be in
[8:04] Speaker 3: with and I was able to talk to Doug and
[8:07] Speaker 3: kind of develop myself and him help me in that.
[8:11] Speaker 3: And it's funny like around Black River for about a year,
[8:15] Speaker 3: I was just known as Doug's guy. No one knew
[8:17] Speaker 3: who I was. I was just Doug's guy. I was
[8:19] Speaker 3: there all the time, they just no one knew who
[8:21] Speaker 3: I was. And then yeah, about a year and a
[8:26] Speaker 3: half after that conversation was when they presented me with
[8:30] Speaker 3: a record deal and a publishing deal.
[8:32] Speaker 2: I love that story. That's so amazing. So the first
[8:35] Speaker 2: EP comes out I'm America in May of twenty twenty four,
[8:40] Speaker 2: a great impact on the scene. And then later that
[8:44] Speaker 2: year the real turning point became Till the Last Shots
[8:48] Speaker 2: Fired with Lee Brice and Dolly Parton, which is pretty spectacular.
[8:55] Speaker 2: What was the first encounter with Lee Brice?
[8:58] Speaker 1: Like?
[8:58] Speaker 2: And how late did you stay up as part of
[9:02] Speaker 2: that first encounter? And I know a little bit of
[9:04] Speaker 2: this firstthand because I love Lee and Lee stays up late.
[9:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Lee is.
[9:13] Speaker 3: Lee is one of the most wonderful people I've ever met.
[9:16] Speaker 3: He truly is he. It was so funny. I remember
[9:19] Speaker 3: the first time I ever went in the first time
[9:22] Speaker 3: I ever met him. Was when we went to his
[9:26] Speaker 3: brand new home studio that he just built, and it
[9:29] Speaker 3: was when he was recording his part for this song.
[9:31] Speaker 1: And it was.
[9:33] Speaker 3: Incredible because you know, we had that song and it
[9:36] Speaker 3: was perfect, and that song changed my life. It was
[9:38] Speaker 3: the song that made me decide that I was going
[9:40] Speaker 3: to live my life to the fullest and that I
[9:43] Speaker 3: was going to, you know, live my life for my
[9:44] Speaker 3: best friends who never had the opportunity, and I wasn't
[9:46] Speaker 3: going to let my injury stop me. And and you know, Lee,
[9:51] Speaker 3: we walked in there and he's like, man, like, I
[9:53] Speaker 3: don't know how much you guys want me to do
[9:54] Speaker 3: with this song. He's like, but I don't. I don't
[9:56] Speaker 3: care how much I get of this song. He's like,
[9:58] Speaker 3: I just want to be a part of what this is. Like,
[10:00] Speaker 3: this song is incredible, and your story is amazing and
[10:03] Speaker 3: the fact that this song is what it is to
[10:05] Speaker 3: you is all I care about being a part of.
[10:08] Speaker 3: And I was like, that's that's incredible. So we went
[10:11] Speaker 3: there and yeah, we were there for we were there
[10:14] Speaker 3: for Quiet, Quiet.
[10:15] Speaker 1: An amount of time.
[10:16] Speaker 3: But it was it was also the first time that
[10:18] Speaker 3: I was ever able to watch an incredible recording artist
[10:24] Speaker 3: be a recording artist. It was the first time I
[10:26] Speaker 3: ever got to watch someone who's lived in a studio
[10:30] Speaker 3: be in a studio.
[10:31] Speaker 1: It was one of the I learned so much that.
[10:33] Speaker 3: Night from Lee, just watching how he does what he
[10:36] Speaker 3: does when he's in the studio, and how he he
[10:39] Speaker 3: phrases stuff, and I mean, he is his his vocals
[10:43] Speaker 3: are unreal, and I don't think he gets enough credit
[10:46] Speaker 3: for what he can do vocally, and and he's just
[10:50] Speaker 3: he's he's just an incredible person. And he sat down
[10:52] Speaker 3: and just talked to us for hours, and I mean
[10:55] Speaker 3: we were done with the studio and he just wanted
[10:57] Speaker 3: to hang out and it was it was. It was
[10:59] Speaker 3: an amazing and Lee has since become a very dear
[11:02] Speaker 3: friend of mine, which is something I never thought in
[11:04] Speaker 3: a millionaires I would ever say.
[11:06] Speaker 2: He's a special He's a special guy, for sure. He
[11:09] Speaker 2: really is. You made an incredible appearance on our companion
[11:14] Speaker 2: podcast called Music Saved Me, hosted by Lynn Hoffman. And
[11:20] Speaker 2: we have been big supporters wherever we can of certainly
[11:26] Speaker 2: those that have served our country, you know, so valiantly
[11:30] Speaker 2: like you. Home Based Nation is based here in Boston
[11:36] Speaker 2: and We've certainly tried to advocate their work as well,
[11:42] Speaker 2: with the work they do for veterans and families all
[11:46] Speaker 2: over the place. The weight of some of your other
[11:49] Speaker 2: appearances is incredible, and I'll just highlight them and get
[11:54] Speaker 2: your reflection. First of all, you representing the United States
[11:58] Speaker 2: with multiple performances in Normandy in France during the eightieth
[12:03] Speaker 2: anniversary of the D Day commemoration. What was that like?
[12:09] Speaker 1: I don't know. I still don't know how to find
[12:11] Speaker 1: words for what that was. It was. It was truly.
[12:16] Speaker 3: One of the if not the most incredible experiences I've
[12:20] Speaker 3: ever had.
[12:21] Speaker 1: It was it was unreal, man, it was.
[12:23] Speaker 3: It was so cool because for me, especially as a veteran,
[12:26] Speaker 3: not not only on the music side and as an artist,
[12:28] Speaker 3: but as a veteran, like for me, like the World
[12:32] Speaker 3: War Two, guys were like it, like those are my heroes,
[12:36] Speaker 3: Like those are the guys who went and did things,
[12:38] Speaker 3: unimaginable things, and and I was able to connect with
[12:42] Speaker 3: so many of them, and it and it was it
[12:44] Speaker 3: was incredible to be able to see and it was
[12:47] Speaker 3: so cool because when they're over there, they're treated like
[12:49] Speaker 3: rock stars, and it was so cool to see.
[12:52] Speaker 1: And it was.
[12:53] Speaker 3: It was amazing and we we connected with one guy
[12:56] Speaker 3: named Dennis Bowlt. It was his first time ever back
[12:58] Speaker 3: in Normandy since he was not teen, storming the beach,
[13:02] Speaker 3: and it was amazing to see like you just watched
[13:07] Speaker 3: him connect like like with all of the hell that
[13:11] Speaker 3: he had went through was for what was happening right now,
[13:15] Speaker 3: Like he saw a free a free Normany. He saw
[13:18] Speaker 3: free France, like he sawid He got to experience it,
[13:21] Speaker 3: and he got to experience the gratitude from everybody. It's
[13:23] Speaker 3: just a deep rooted gratitude for the United States and
[13:26] Speaker 3: for those guys, and it was. It was one of
[13:28] Speaker 3: the most incredible things I've ever been to be able
[13:30] Speaker 3: to part of. And yeah, I got to play and
[13:33] Speaker 3: I got to play music, which is even better. But
[13:35] Speaker 3: I would have had an incredible time had I not
[13:38] Speaker 3: been playing music.
[13:40] Speaker 2: And then you made your Grand Old Opry debut during
[13:44] Speaker 2: the Opry's celebration of Forrest Gum's thirtieth anniversary. That sounds
[13:51] Speaker 2: fairly spectacularly.
[13:53] Speaker 1: It was. I mean, the Opry is the mountaintop, you know.
[13:56] Speaker 3: I mean that's as an artist, like as a country artist,
[13:58] Speaker 3: the Opry is the top.
[14:00] Speaker 1: Like that's where you want to be. That's where everyone
[14:02] Speaker 1: wants to be. And and you know, I was.
[14:05] Speaker 3: I was blessed enough to be able to step into
[14:08] Speaker 3: that circle and feel all of the weight from all
[14:10] Speaker 3: the history before me when I stepped in that and
[14:12] Speaker 3: and it was incredible because my really good friend Gary
[14:15] Speaker 3: Sonisee was the one who asked me to be a
[14:17] Speaker 3: part of it, and.
[14:18] Speaker 1: It was, it was, it was, It was so.
[14:21] Speaker 3: Amazing, And honestly, I've been back there since and that
[14:25] Speaker 3: weight that you feel when you step into that circle
[14:27] Speaker 3: never goes away.
[14:29] Speaker 1: Every time I'm there. I feel it every single time.
[14:33] Speaker 2: I would love for you to highlight some of the
[14:36] Speaker 2: many organizations that you support and support your fellow veterans
[14:41] Speaker 2: through partnerships, so feel free to brag about all of them.
[14:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent.
[14:48] Speaker 3: You know, veteran nonprofits saved my life. They have and
[14:53] Speaker 3: for someone who like myself, who wants to help with music,
[14:56] Speaker 3: it's so easy to align myself with other veteran nonprofits,
[14:59] Speaker 3: you know, and feed Foundation are doing incredible things for
[15:02] Speaker 3: veteran Creative vets are doing incredible things for veterans. Guitars
[15:07] Speaker 3: for Vets, Tunnel to Towers, fulls of mine. I mean,
[15:10] Speaker 3: there's so many, so many amazing organizations out there that
[15:14] Speaker 3: are doing such incredible things. And it's like I said,
[15:17] Speaker 3: it's so easy for someone like myself. He's not only
[15:19] Speaker 3: a VET, but wants to use my music and my
[15:21] Speaker 3: story to help people, to align with people who are
[15:25] Speaker 3: also trying to help.
[15:26] Speaker 1: And I can't say enough.
[15:28] Speaker 3: For not only relationships that I have with those organizations,
[15:31] Speaker 3: but what they do to help.
[15:34] Speaker 2: You are a hero, sir. We are honored that you
[15:37] Speaker 2: took the time to be with us. Thank you for
[15:40] Speaker 2: your service, thank you for all you continue to you
[15:43] Speaker 2: give us and give your fellow veterans, and just an
[15:47] Speaker 2: absolute honor Scotti to speak with you. We are always
[15:50] Speaker 2: in your corner to help any way we can with
[15:53] Speaker 2: your mission and your work. Thank you so much. I
[15:56] Speaker 2: really appreciate that. Thank you for your telling Scotti. Appreciate
[15:59] Speaker 2: you man. Thank you very much. Tell Lee we said hello.
[16:05] Speaker 2: It's been a while, but love that guy.
[16:07] Speaker 1: So special human, He's a very special. Thanks for listening
[16:11] Speaker 1: to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast.
[16:14] Speaker 3: Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow
[16:18] Speaker 3: us so you never miss an episode. Taking a Walk
[16:21] Speaker 3: is available on the iHeartRadio, app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever
[16:26] Speaker 3: you get your podcasts.

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