Mario Tarradell

Ray Scott could have easily been another Nashville casualty, chewed up and spit out by the quick-hit-minded major-label system.

His robust, potent debut album for Warner Bros., 2005's critically lauded My Kind of Music, failed to break on mainstream radio. He locked horns with the imprint's honchos over creative control. They rejected his songs. He wouldn't record theirs. Three years later, he's off the label's roster.

Tony Baker

Country singer Ray Scott chaffed under major-label direction.

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But the North Carolina native with the rugged, bass-heavy baritone refuses to slip away quietly. With constant touring, grass-roots momentum and plain chutzpah, he's returned with Crazy Like Me, released on his own Jethropolitan Records.

"It strengthened my resolve to record my music," says the 38-year-old Nashville resident about his experiences. "I tend to be cut from a certain kind of cloth, and I guess I can't do it unless I'm thinking it. It taught me that some people are cut out for a major label and some people are not. It's not about fame. It's about being able to say what I want to say. If notoriety and wealth came as a result, great. But that's not why I'm in it."

One listen to Crazy Like Me and there's no questioning his sincerity. Mr. Scott makes real country music with honky-tonk gusto. He comes from the Willie and Waylon stylistic school with nods to John Prine, John Hiatt and Roger Miller. He can be clever ("Ashtray on a Motorcycle"), sexy ("Do It With the Lights On"), politically incorrect ("Everybody's Girlfriend") and rabble-rousing ("Hell Got Raised Again Tonight").

He isn't afraid to speak his mind and doesn't second-guess himself for the sake of acceptance in pop culture. Mr. Scott will happily write a drinking song – "Sometimes the Bottle Hits Ya Back" – and then offer some commentary on "Poor Folks."

"I have a great appreciation for the clever wordplay," he says. "That's still around, but it's harder to get that stuff in the mainstream because they tend to dumb it down for the masses. It's like anything else when you are trying to sell a product, make it as safe as possible so as not to insult anybody."

Crazy Like Me is a product of leaving Warner Bros. Five of the CD's 11 songs were rejected by label brass, including "Everybody's Girlfriend" and "Do It With the Lights On." And "Plowboy," the showcase cut from My Kind of Music, the song that established Mr. Scott's penchant for deep-voiced recitations and rocked-up choruses, was never considered for a single even though it got him signed to a major label.

"Every generation of listeners has less and less in common with the music and can't relate to it," he says about what he hears on the radio today. "The meaty has been replaced by trite, patronizing, ready-made stuff."

He's not bitter, just determined. The motorcycle-riding artist knows going down the solo independent road is the harder route. But he's not scared.

"I feel like this is the best way for me to do it now. It's a different world these days in the way people get music. The bottom line is I don't want to be locked into a contract with somebody else," he says. "I want the freedom. It's nice to call the shots. I don't want to put something out that isn't going to measure up to what people expect. I'd love to have half a million promotional dollars, but let's see what happens."