F
or Scott Allen, M.D., life is about making people feel better. He does his healing through medicine and music.A full-time physician at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI), Allen also maintains a private practice. In the Medical School, he teaches residents at Miriam Hospital.
When he is not working or spending time with his wife and son, Allen "steals" an hour or two at night and on weekends to write, sing and record. His lively folk-rock songs feature acoustic guitar and harmonica, but he also lays in drums, bass, vocals and other instruments and sounds in his home studio. Because he wears headphones while using his computer to edit the mix, about 80 percent of the creation process takes place quietly, he says.
"Music touches something in terms of the deeper human psyche," said the clinical assistant professor of medicine. "It has a lot to do with healing. From the medical side, music helps me to relieve stress and to look at people from a non-medical perspective. In music, I’ve found something to be passionate about to channel my energy. It’s a therapeutic activity."
Last year, Allen created a Web site to help overcome a busy schedule that restricts his performing at clubs and coffeehouses. The site provides a venue for his music and materials, as well as those of other musicians, and offers listeners an opportunity to post comments.
"In some ways, the artists on the site have accepted the limitations of getting their music out through traditional ways. We are willing to give music away for free to get heard by a wider audience," he said.
Allen has produced three tapes of his original material, and a CD is the works.
"I have many indirect influences, but my ACI experience is a direct inspiration for music," he said. "I write a lot about the way that people behave and represent themselves." His toe-tapping, high-energy "Tuesday Mourning," for example, is about life within a correctional facility.
Over the years, Allen’s performing has taken a back seat to his social activism as a physician. His work treating underserved populations has taken him around the world.
When his son was born with serious illness in 1994, Allen turned inward. The interval ultimately inspired him to return to creative expression, including one of his most productive songwriting periods, he said.
When he does play out, it’s mostly in Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts.
Last month, his Web site recorded more than 2,000 individual "hits," Allen said. Visitors downloaded one or more songs at least 300 times, he said.
"Unlike what has been going on with Napster, everyone on the site is there by consent. We actually want you to copy and share our music." — Scott J. Turner
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