Album Review: Scott Tournet, ‘Home’

(Self-released, CD, vinyl, digital)

Scott Tournet got something of a late start to his music career. The singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer didn’t pick up a six-string until he was a student at Goddard College in Plainfield. But, boy, did he make up for lost time. Not long after, Tournet joined up with Grace Potter and formed Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in 2003, playing an important role in the band’s meteoric rise.

Disillusioned by opening big stadium shows for pop and country stars, he quit the band in 2015 and moved to California. Tournet delved into new styles, particularly his love of Afrobeat and psychedelic music, and formed the band Elektric Voodoo, releasing several albums. He moved back to the East Coast in 2023 and dropped the solo LP Rock & Roll Stories, a return to his blues-rock guitar ways.

His latest record, Home, is a departure from all that. Tournet goes full coffeehouse-style singer-songwriter on the 10-track album. There’s not much in the way of guitar heroics or side forays into jazz here; this is purely a dude and his acoustic guitar singing about his feelings.

Tournet handles the transition pretty well, all things considered. He’s accessing terrain traveled by the likes of Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen, going for a heartland, salt-of-the-earth style of songwriting. It’s hardly the most revolutionary of acts from a middle-aged guitar guy, and there are certainly moments when Tournet overplays his hand — the title track could have come straight from an early 2000s Starbucks new-music sampler. But for the most part, Home doesn’t come off as contrived or mailed in, which can often be the case when rockers make a “roots” record — aka try to make some money from the folk and bluegrass crowd.

Tournet flirts with the acoustic era of the Grateful Dead on “Island,” a tune that would have been at home on Workingman’s Dead. He channels Jerry Garcia with tasteful guitar licks and a tender, softly sung melody. The sun-streaked instrumental “Perfect Breeze” is a little more experimental, layering the sounds of birds, insects and children’s whispers over keening pedal steel guitar.

“The Door” and “When We Were Young” are total singer-songwriter fare. The raw focus on Tournet’s songwriting and singing voice might be a gamble for an artist better known for his guitar prowess, but he inhabits the troubadour role with casual ease.

The album drags a little when the subject matter gets both too cliché and autobiographical. “The Circle” is a catchy slice of dad-rock but has a paint-by-numbers feel: With lyrics about “hitting the road” and “picking up the guitar,” it’s a tad overdone. Home is strongest when it indulges its central conceit, that of Tournet as a folkie. “Lonely Road” and the bluegrass-flavored “Sylvia” are shining examples of tender, evocative songwriting.

Home is available on major streaming services. Tournet plays the Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge in Burlington on Thursday, September 25, with support from singer-songwriter Troy Millette.