At an early age, schoolchildren are taught tales of America folklore alongside math and science. John Henry, Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill are woven into our DNA, sometimes as ideals, sometimes cautionary tales. Always, for better or worse, these individuals are set apart by exceptional skills, followed by lifetimes spent using those skills to forge a place for themselves on collapsing frontiers. The man behind and in front of the Akron band White Pines, Joseph Scott, drinking black coffee and chain smoking on his front porch on a bone-cold night, looks the part. The arc of his career — a lifetime’s worth of setback and success — mirrors that journey. And White Pines’ repertoire is every volume the soundtrack. Hauntingly melodic, emotionally intimate, Scott’s songs are testaments to irrepressible forward momentum in the face of grand disappointment. At their core, they’re folk songs, a byproduct of his early alt-rock achievements with the band Canada. But it took that band crashing and burning and a move to Akron for White Pines to evolve into its current sound. “I still relate to the songs as though they’re folk songs,” said Scott between burns of an American Spirit, “but they’re sort of morphing into something else.” That something else is a cross between Neil Young and Explosions in the Sky, visceral yet hypnotic. It’s a big, reverby sound buttressed by stripped-down humanity. And much of that evolution is attributed to White Pines’ first Akron member, Relaxer and Royal Bangs keyboardist Stephen Clements. Originally, White Pines had a more traditional lineup creating a more traditional sound: Scott on rhythm guitar, Clements on drums, and two brothers, Andrew and David Rich, on bass and lead guitar. The day before embarking on a tour with the Black Swans, the Rich brothers experienced a death in the family and had to back out. “It was a really bad situation,” said Scott. “We felt bad for Dave and Andrew, but also nervous about how to play those shows.” At the literal last minute, Scott and Clements were in the studio trying to figure out how they were going to make this work. It was Clements’ idea to play drums with his right hand and foot while providing the songs with the low end they lacked, playing a synthesized bass on a keyboard with his left hand. Scott didn’t think that was physically possible. Even if it was, he had no idea how that would translate on stage. But Clements pulled it off, and by the end of the tour, Scott was so attached to the sound, White Pines was in the market for a full-time keyboardist. Enter Gabe Schray, formerly of Houseguest. Scott has so completely embraced what the synthesized bass brings to his songwriting, Schray has established himself as the only permanent member of White Pines, other than Scott himself. Depending on who’s on tour, White Pines’ lineup on any given night is a who’s who of Akron’s elite musicians. At a recent Matinee show, Scott and Schray were accompanied onstage by As If’s Anne Lillis on drums and local rock royalty Jamie Stillman on lead guitar. “Wow,” said someone in the audience. “Everyone’s in this band.” In Akron, Scott has been able to surround himself with musicians he trusts to do what’s best for the songs he writes. No ego. No showboating. Just fluid creativity and a willingness to overhaul completely if the result is something better. Working without these elements, musically speaking, is how you wind up married to bad ideas. “If you take in a stray cat to give to the Humane Society and you give it a name, you’re never getting rid of it,” said Scott. This was a lesson he learned hard and forever with his first foray into mainstream success. Scott’s old band, Canada, formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2005, found itself swept up in the industry’s indie-folk boom at the time. With labels on the hunt for the next Iron and Wine and Band of Horses, Canada’s first album, “This Cursed House,” was released and pushed hard by Quite Scientific Records. The album did extremely well, breaking the top ten on the national college music charts. The band spent the greater part of the next three years touring in support of “This Cursed House,” playing CMJ four times, South by Southwest three times and headlining shows alongside Man Man, Saturday Looks Good to Me and Girl Talk. It would turn out to be too much, too soon. “None of us had ever been to that place before, and it was pretty scary,” said Scott. “We were like a deer in headlights when it came time for the second album.” A toxic combination of acrophobia, infighting, crossed signals and business naïveté eroded Canada’s trajectory. Each member wanted to take that next step, and they wanted to take it together. They wanted to do what was best for the band. They just didn’t know how to yet. “I still love every member of the band, but I think it was kind of doomed to failure from the start,” he said. Following Canada’s implosion, or perhaps exacerbating it, Scott moved to Brooklyn. His old band dead, he formed White Pines as a vehicle for some of his own work and some of the songs he wrote for a Canada follow-up that never came to fruition. Scott brought those songs with him to Ohio, where he met Clements. The two turned tragedy into invention, and White Pines opened up its creative process to the best elements in Akron. “Canada had too much going on. I needed to simplify, and the best way I could think to do that was record everything myself,” said Scott. “Thankfully, White Pines now has enough talented people behind it for me to let some other people step in and do things that I can’t.” In November, White Pines opened for indie-rock pioneers Built to Spill at Musica. On January 20, White Pines is returning to Musica, this time as headliners, in support of their latest EP. “We’re looking forward to having White Pines back,” said Musica’s Timothy Eddings. “I think Joseph Scott is one of Ohio’s best undiscovered rock singers, and the band was stellar opening for Built to Spill.” Back on his front porch, behind a haze of blue smoke, Scott speaks so plainly, so evenly on the subject of past good fortune and gut-punch regret, you’d think he’s talking about someone else. In a sense, he is. He used to think success was about being in a good band. He knows now it’s about always working to make a good band better. In a business where a lot of musicians worth a damn never get the chance to produce something worth a damn, there is only the next song, the next album, the next show. Will it come? And if it does, will you be ready? White Pines braves forward. The rest is wilderness. The White Pines will be at Musica on January 20. Buzzbin would like to offer a special thanks to the kind folks at the Akron Civic Theatre and the Medina Antique Mall for making the White Pines cover shoot possible. Photos: Jeremy Aronhalt