Derek Sholl

Derek Sholl’s roots lie in Southern California, where an early passion for baseball took hold. He devoted his youth to developing his skills on local diamonds and ultimately earned a draft pick from the Kansas City Royals. A short period in the club’s minor-league system ended when injuries forced him to abandon professional sports. During those same years he encountered country music and discovered he possessed a natural aptitude for singing it. Self-taught on guitar, he began performing at neighborhood bars; for roughly a decade he supported himself by driving a bread truck while sharpening both his songwriting and an engaging, professional stage presence. Those efforts led to high-stakes bookings at the Station Casinos in Las Vegas and, later, to opening shows for Jay Leno at the Mirage. Relocating his base to Dallas, Texas, Sholl issued Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time on B-E-G Records in 2006, an album that produced several regional hits. He next signed with the Dallas label Salt Creek Records and delivered Here, tracked at Rosewood Studios in Tyler, Texas, in 2008.