“My job, my charity, my hobby was all music,” said Scott Grote, who moved to Moore County seven years ago. Born in South Dakota, Grote’s journey on the guitar began when he was 12.

During his early life in the Black Hills, he was drawn to storytellers like John Pryne and Guy Clark, and guitarists like Jeff Beck. Grote took a cue from Beck early on that’s informed his technique and style through the years.

“Somebody interviewed him and he said, how often do you practice? He goes, ‘I don’t,’” Grote said.

“There was a good friend of mine that was a music teacher, and he would tell his students, ‘Don’t practice, go play.’ And I thought, ‘What a concept.’ Because who wants to practice? Right? I want to go play.”

His experience reflects that, saying he’s never taken a formal lesson, but he’s gotten out there.

“I have played in about every kind of band you can think of,” he said.

“I’ve played in old-time bands, where you’re playing waltzes and polkas all night long – that’s an education – rock bands, playing Black Sabbath and Cream and Blind Faith. Next thing I’m doing is playing Mills Brothers and Whoopee John and all that stuff. Then I’m doing Merle Haggard and Elvis with another band.”

Grote built up his skill and connections in South Dakota, and after a brief move to the East Coast, he moved back to the Black Hills. That’s when he turned his efforts to giving back.

Of course, he’d been involved in fundraisers and other festivals, but after returning home, he saw opportunity. By this time, he was an experienced musician, and he and his wife were getting involved in their area arts council.

“We started a grassroots program named the Emerging Artists Program,” he said. “We would call it Cultural Cafe at an Art Center, and every Friday we would do an open mic. We would have an open mic featured person and mentoring night. For that, we would take somebody, like myself, who’s been playing a lot of years and bring in younger players, feature them, teach them how to perform. How to get on stage and stuff like that.”

In the 25 years before moving to Moore County, Grote helped organize or participated in a number of other events and fundraisers benefiting a variety of causes. One which he was instrumental in raised money and awareness to help endangered species.

“Musicians like an excuse to play music,” Grote said with a smile. “I happen to have the extra gene where I like to put on the programs and invite friends. You know, just keep it fun where everybody has a good time and there’s music involved.”

That gene helped Grote keep his normal gigs going as well.

“When I was in the Dakotas, I had a group of guys I would play with,” he said. “Everybody’s got different jobs, so finally I would just start booking gigs, because it was hard to get everybody on the same page, and I would just say, ‘Who can play this weekend?’

“When I would book a gig, the owner would go, ‘Well who’s playing with you?’ And I would look at him and say, ‘I’ll let you know when I’m done.’”

His intent to play for experience forced him to learn how to be flexible, to listen to the players and support and fill the space, so he was able to adjust on the fly, adapting to whoever decided to join him at his gigs.
That flexibility was vital to integrating into the music scene and playing with new musicians. The first he chanced to meet was Jonathan Robinson.

“Scott walked into a casino one day and said, ‘Hey, I just talked to the guy that owns this place called the Wine Cellar,’” Robinson recalled during a recent interview. “‘I’m going to play a gig there Saturday night. Does anybody want to play with me?’ And I said, ‘I’ll play with you.’”

“I really didn’t know any players,” said Grote of the encounter. “He’d never heard me, and we hit the ground running. We’re both looking at each other going, ‘This is going to be a fun night.’

“So I did that for about a year or two. You know, you pick up some regular friends and players that’ll play with you. We were playing someplace one night and somebody says, ‘You need to get a name.’”

He responded with Scott Grote and Friends, but as he continued playing, he was thinking.

“Dylan did a tour of the Rolling Thunder with a whole bunch of people and it was just like a moving show that I’d just found out about recently and thought, ‘Well, that’s kind of what I do.’”

So he decided his rotating troupe was a tour, a mystery tour. When you see him around town, you’ll find the Scott Grote Mystery Tour.

“‘Magical mystery?’ somebody said. I would not do that to The Beatles,” adds Grote. “Too much respect. It’s just a mystery of who’s going to show.”

It’s no mystery that he enjoys helping people, and he’s continued to give back to our community, the same way he did in South Dakota.

Recently he helped organize, with Neon Rooster and Casino Guitars, a fundraiser benefiting music programming at the Boys & Girls Club of the Sandhills. The idea began a year ago when a connection of Grote’s was coming through the area.

“He goes, ‘Hey, you got any place I can play?’ And I talked to Derek (Numbers) at the Neon Rooster. I said, ‘Why don’t we do this event? I’ll get some sponsors to sponsor him and we’ll raise money for the Aberdeen library.’”

So they did, and they hope to make it a regular thing.

“Have a great time and get learning while giving back to the community,” said Grote. “It was a great community thing for not only the musicians, but the music enthusiasts in the area to see the players that don’t get a chance to be on a lot of the stages, because one, they might not be singers. Two, they probably don’t know anybody, so they can get up and do three, four, five songs and stuff.

“You get the passion, you get the heart, the drive,” Grote said. “So when you do things like this here, it’s not work. It’s just fun to do.”