Kevin Scott Hall Sings About Spring (and Other Things) in Upcoming 'Seasons Change'

Singer Kevin Scott Hall is as eclectic as his taste in music. He is a singer, songwriter, actor, author, journalist, and teacher, with some years as a bartender, albeit singing, as well. With such broad interests, it is not surprising to find that, as a singer/songwriter, his interests range from Broadway and standards, to pop, gospel, light rock, and jazz, having written and/or sung in all those styles.

Born in Maine, but raised in north central Massachusetts, Hall moved to New York right after college to make the audition rounds. He managed to get cast in several off-off-Broadway and summer stock productions. That led to solo cabaret performances in Manhattan's nightclubs scene with gigs at Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, The Triad, and Judy's, as well as a nine-year run as a singing bartender at the storied Greenwich Village cabaret club Rose's Turn.

After decades of living in New York, Hall returned to Massachusetts in 2020 to accompany his parents during the pandemic, and moved into the family lake house in Ashburnham, MA, where he still lives. During the pandemic, Hall also returned to performing, dropping into the Club Café's Napoleon Room to sing at open mics, and then preparing his own cabaret show. Hall will perform "Seasons Change," on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at Club Café's Napoleon Room with Andy Lantz on piano.

As a singer, Hall has three solo vocal recordings, all featuring his trademark eclectic mix of original songs and covers. Of his acclaimed debut recording, "New Light Dawning" (1998), Jimmy Carper, producer of the queer variety radio program "After Hours," which aired on WPFT-90.1 FM, Houston, TX, said, "Kevin Scott Hall's album, 'New Light Dawning' contains many inspiring new songs, the kind you want to listen to when you're down in the dumps and also when you're in a good mood. He can capture those emotions effectively all at once. Favorites include ... 'Weekends with You,' which I give airplay to on 'After Hours.' He also gives a new interpretation to that wonderful stand-by, 'Crying.'"

Hall's work as a writer includes two books: A novel called "Off the Charts," published in 2010, and an acclaimed memoir, "A Quarter Inch from My Heart," in which a 1994 stabbing and another narrative are weaved together, published in 2014. From 2008-16, Hall also wrote cabaret entertainment features for EDGE Media Network that included interviews of Broadway, cabaret, and pop entertainers, as well as a monthly column. His writing led to his becoming a board member for the prestigious annual Backstage Bistro Awards.

EDGE caught up with Hall to talk about what shaped his upcoming show, and how that might lead into another side gig as a standup comedian.

EDGE: Your show will include songs of hope for change and for the better. How do your original songs touch upon that theme?

Kevin Scott Hall: When John [O'Neil, manager of the Napoleon Room] asked me if I wanted to do a show, I knew from living out in Ashburnham, to get my Ashburnham crowd to come to a show in Boston, I needed a Saturday afternoon, so I asked him about March 22. That date led to a theme of spring and changing seasons. John, who likes themed shows, got excited about an equinox theme. It is mostly about the Spring, but also that times change, priorities change, I talk about moving back to Massachusetts after living in New York for so many years. There's a song I wrote called "Time Stands Still," written for my parents, who were together for 64 years, and it's about commitment. It felt seasonal when I wrote it, but it's metaphorically about how as things and seasons change, love can remain the same. Another one, called "Light in August," is a comical song about all the seasons, but I need a little light in August. Now that I live on a lake, that resonates with me.

There's an older one I'm bringing back called "Weekends with You," about a couple who only get together on weekends, and it starts off about their first weekend in Spring taking a weekend together.

The theme of hope is really because we need that right now, and I will close my show talking a little bit about the times we are living in, how we need hope and community, and how we find that in the Napoleon Room, and in music and beauty.

EDGE: Who are some of your songwriting influences, musically and lyrically?

Kevin Scott Hall: The experience of working as a bartender in a piano bar for 12 years probably influenced me more than anything else, because I had to come up with a huge repertoire of songs, plus take some requests. I was constantly trying out new material every week, because the audience was very receptive, even to mistakes you might make with new material. I was there from 1994 until it closed in 2007.

Twelve years instilled discipline in me. In the beginning, it was a little bit more show tunes and standards. But, by 2000, younger people were coming in, and it was more pop tunes. I grew up listening to pop radio, so I had a good selection of songs from the '70s and '80s.

EDGE: Your taste in music is eclectic. What has kept your musical tastes as broad as they are?

Kevin Scott Hall: I have a lot of favorites, and not one favorite, I think because growing up I sat in my room and listened to Casey Kasem and his Top 40 Countdown. You had soul, country, bubblegum, and pop music, and even covers of standards. Also, my parents had an extensive record collection. My father had a lot of the standard stuff, including instrumental jazz. My mother was more into Elvis and early '50s rock and roll. My ears were hearing everything.

EDGE: You've covered the cabaret beat as a writer for many years. What drew you to cabaret as an art form?

Kevin Scott Hall: I think because I was a writer before I was a singer, I noticed that cabaret performers tend to be more interested in the lyric and lyric interpretation. It appealed to me to take a song and make it fresh through my own interpretation. Then I got the piano bar job, and that kept me interested in cabaret and became my community for so many years.

EDGE: You've been involved in other behind the scenes parts of the entertainment business. What made you decide to refocus your attention away from those activities and back toward performing?

Kevin Scott Hall: When Bob Nesti put out an ad for a New York cabaret correspondent, I responded and was hired. Soon after, I was finding celebrities to interview and doing profiles. Then, Sherry Eaker, founder and continued producer of the Backstage Bistro Awards (her father founded Backstage Magazine) and writer of the Backstage column Bistro Bits, asked me to come onto the Bistro Awards board. Over the eight years of doing those things, I saw hundreds of shows for free. That was an education. I could have stayed there and written about theater and cabaret. But I wanted to perform, and I didn't want the conflict of interest of being a reviewer and a performer at the same time.

EDGE: You also do standup comedy. In a way, standup comedy has much in common with cabaret: You break the fourth wall, it is often done in small clubs, you connect directly with your audience, you are performing as yourself, not a character. What differences might there be, other than the material?

Kevin Scott Hall: It's a little more rapid fire. You need to turn over a joke quickly in stand up. I may not actually do standup in my cabaret show, but I may tell a funny story about my life.

But I like doing both cabaret and standup. I do about one comedy open mic per month. I don't invite any friends to my standup. The folks in the audience don't know me as a singer, a novelist, a critic, they only see me as a comedian, and I can try something new without judgement or filter. I can be the "bad Kevin." I can talk about sex; I can use the "f" word. Very few friends have seen me do this, and that's how I like it right now.

Kevin Scott Hall will perform "Seasons Change" on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at 4 PM at the Club Café's Napoleon Room, 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02116. No cover, but donations accepted. For reservations, visit https://www.clubcafe.com/club-events/kevin-scott-hall/