Scott Stoddart Fultz opens up about songwriting, inspiration, yoga
QUEENSBURY, New York (Nov. 29, 2022) — Scott Stoddart Fultz’s appearance — that of a pony-tailed, laid-back, butter-voiced yoga instructor — defies the inner disquiet that fuels his longtime music career.
The rocker-turned-singer/songwriter will perform at 12:45 p.m. Dec. 7, as part of SUNY Adirondack’s Pamela Firth Music at Midday Series, held in the Visual Arts Gallery in Dearlove Hall.
“I love to write, I love to tell stories and that’s what drives me — deeply personal things, as I work through some darkness in songwriting,” said Fultz, a Saratoga Springs-based musician who experienced success as lead singer of Cold Sweat, a progressive rock band that released a few CDs in the 1980s and ’90s. “It’s working through personal issues, even trauma, issues with my father, with other family members, or alcoholism — you name it.”
After realizing Cold Sweat might not sustain him financially, Fultz taught himself to code and began work as a software engineer, all while writing music and gigging on the side.
“Music saved my life,” he said. “It’s not always a darkness, sometimes it’s inspiration, being inspired by the beauty of my wife, or I’ll write a song that functions in place of buying a dozen roses.”
The peace writing brings has for the past several years been fortified by yoga, which Fultz practices and teaches.
“I got into yoga because I was in a 40-something-year-old Western man’s body, one that lived through the life of a musician,” he remembered. “I had some pain in my body, so I started practicing with a bunch of old ladies.”
Soon after he was diagnosed as having cancer, he was in a class, looked up and saw a flier for yoga teacher training. “This is a thing I have to do right now,” Fultz said. “It helped navigate the stress of going through treatment; it changed my life, changed the way I navigate the world.”
What yoga doesn’t work out, Fultz puts to paper, then to his guitar strings. “Sometimes you get inspiration and it flows through you and feels like it’s coming from some other place,” he said. “It’s amazing when that happens, but in order for that to happen, you have to sit down and try to invoke it.”
Fultz said, though, that he makes time to hone his craft. “If you set aside the time and sit down to write, magic can happen. If you’re just waiting for inspiration, nothing will happen.”
He will perform all original music at SUNY Adirondack, on acoustic guitar, harmonica and, maybe, harmonium. “It will be a singer-songwriter kind of show,” he said. “I might tell a story about a song if it’s not too deeply personal, or even if it is. I’m just psyched to get out and play.”
About Scott Stoddart Fultz
Scott Stoddart Fultz paints vignettes of the human experience, through literate lyrics, humble music and magical synergy. Fultz was the driving force of progressive rock band Cold Sweat, as lead singer, bassist, guitarist and songwriter. Cold Sweat’s music is available on all major streaming services. Fultz has also lent his talents to several area bands, as well as making appearances on stage as an actor in community theater productions. He is a yoga instructor and avid hiker.
