AB Workshops

Scott grew up in Southern England in a musical family. His father had been a guitarist for the Diplomats, who had opened shows in the early 1960s for both the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. With access to his parents record collection as a guide, McKeon was playing the guitar by the age of four, and could manage with a full size Fender Stratocaster by the age of eight. He became the face of a television advertisement for Fender, who were trying to engage with a new generation of guitar players. He was turned towards blues music when aged ten, after viewing video footage of Stevie Ray Vaughan, which led to McKeon playing in a blues band when just 13 years old. However his father died around this time, but not before McKeon was named Guitarist magazine’s ‘Young Guitarist of the Year’ in 1998. Competent and confident enough to record a demo CD when aged 18, a copy was passed to Jakko Jakszyk and then on to Paul Crockford, the manager of Mark Knopfler. Crockford began to represent McKeon and this led to McKeon recording his debut album, Can’t Take No More, which was released on 26 February 2007. It was produced by Jesse Davey, once of the British blues band, The Hoax. In promoting the album, McKeon toured across Europe and the United States, which included performing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and the Glastonbury Festival, and making American television appearances. McKeon wrote the music for Robert M. Knight’s 2009 Rock Prophecies documentary, which won him a RIIFF Award for ‘Best Soundtrack’.

His second album, Trouble, was released by Provogue Records on 29 March 2010. The album included contributions from Robbie McIntosh and David Ryan Harris from John Mayer’s band. In support of the album’s release, McKeon toured, opening shows for Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr. and the Arc Angels. He also made his first performance at the Royal Albert Hall, when supporting Joe Bonamassa. A track from the album was used both on Guitar Hero 5, and on the television programme, LA Task Force. In 2014, McKeon was invited to join Sir Tom Jones’ backing ensemble, where he remains to his day. His work with Jones has included television appearances on Later… with Jools Holland and TFI Friday, and performing in 2019 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.