SoulShakedown – Brian cutout.png

“Stone cold shakedown -” Brian Scartocci’s voice cuts through the low hum of the day, “- a nervous breakdown, that’s what it’s gotta be!” And just like that, a new-age soul singer is summarized in perfect, anguished tune. Living somewhere between pure joy and spiritual turmoil, Brian Scartocci’s distinctive and powerful voice is New Jersey’s gift to Austin, TX’s legendary music scene and to the unending thread of American soul music. Passionate, bombastic & commanding, Scartocci’s live presence is marked by his ability to transition from smooth, silky, tender tones to raw, pleading, gritty deliveries – never letting his audiences guess where they’ll be taken next. It’s a gift that the singer himself doesn’t fully comprehend.

“If I’ve ever had a plan or a layout of how I thought a show would go – even just a song – it’s all out the window the very second that first note hits. It’s no more thought once it’s on, it’s all feel. It’s a ride. I’m on it every bit as you are. I’m just the one in the front seat.”