Ted Scoggins taught himself to play the guitar when he was about 10 years old growing up in LaFayette, Georgia. “I listened to a lot of music like the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Chet Atkins, and I seemed to have a natural inclination toward making music,” he says.

 

Playing around with his dad’s old guitar, he learned some chords and started imitating the music he enjoyed. In high school, even before he and his friends could drive, they formed a rock and roll band and began playing for dances in LaFayette. “We got to split $50 six ways,” he laughs.

 

          The summer after his sophomore year, he was invited to play with Gospel Brass, a touring instrumental band. “We hit the road and played in auditoriums all over the Southeast, and some of them seated up to 10,000 people,” Ted says. “The traveling was tough; some days I didn’t know what city we were in, but I learned a lot about music and what it might be like to become a professional musician.”

At the end of the summer, Gospel Brass went on to Nashville, but Ted, who was younger than most of the group, went back to LaFayette to finish high school. “They’ve done well,” Ted says. “They are found in Southern Gospel Classic collections today. Their snappy instrumentals of “Oh Happy Day” and “I’ll Fly Away” are their most popular.”

Ted made some major life choices in the next few years. He began to pursue a career in medicine at the University of Georgia; he married Joy his high school sweetheart, and they started a family. He started working as a case worker for the Department of Family and Children’s Services in Walker County and applied to medical school. A scholarship from the Medical College of Georgia carried the stipulation that he had to serve for five years in an “under-served community” in Georgia. Since his hometown was on that list, the choice was easy. He became a doctor and went home.

 

Dr. Scoggins joined  Professional Park Associates in LaFayette, a group of primary care physicians who are part of Memorial Health Partners and share his values. They see that a healing ministry serves the whole person – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Others in the group are Dr. Jack Price, Dr. Richard Smith, and Dr. Suzanne Storey, and Leah Harris, APRN.

 

“The people who come into our office define what we do,” Dr. Scoggins says. “We see a lot of high blood pressure and other chronic conditions, and we sew up some type of injury nearly every week. This is family medicine. We treat the entire family from babies and kids to seniors.”

 

Practicing medicine for 19 years in the same small town has set the stage for Dr. Scoggins’ reputation as a song writer and musician. Ted has become the singer for “weddings and funerals,” and he’s honored to do both. “I think about the people and their gifts from God and try to express the event in simple and elegant lyrics – something profound with an economy of words,” Ted explains. He uses scriptural references for inspiration.

 

 “I’ll Never Get Over,” a song he wrote to sing at the funeral of a former patient was actually the first song to gain the attention of a Nashville record producer. “I had submitted a CD of the song to an Internet newsletter put out by the music industry, and John Pisciotta, an American Music Award winner, saw it and called me to see if I had more. This was exciting because Mr. Pisciotta had worked with top artists like Vince Gill, Amy Grant, and Stephen Curtis Chapman.”

 

From a CD with a dozen of Ted Scoggins’ original songs, Mr. Pisciotta asked to do contracts on three of the songs. “Before I signed them, I took the contracts to an attorney friend and fellow songwriter and got some good advice,” Ted says. “In the music business you don’t get paid until the song gets recorded, so some of my songs are part of a potential recording library for John Pisciotta.”

 

The next step was to join ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Their function is to protect its members by monitoring public play of all songs and making sure guys like Ted get their piece of the pie.

 

In November 2003, he received a contract on another song. “Right Together” was a love song he had co-written with his attorney friend. With four contracts and no money, he wasn’t about to quit his day job, but now that the door was open, he did start sending more songs, and has received several interesting nibbles. Robin Welty, a contemporary Christian artist liked one of his songs, and asked if he would rewrite the main title line for a group called “Point of Grace.” Dr. Scoggins says, “After I wrote 50 versions, they decided not to use it, but I was honored that she would ask.”

 

Allen Roy Scott, a Los Angeles writer who has written for Celine Dion, was interested in Dr. Scoggins’ song “My Picture,” which tells a heart-wrenching story about a missionary whose life was touched by an orphan. “When nothing came of that, I thought maybe my stuff was too serious, too intense,” Dr. Scoggins says. “Mr. Scott told me not to change a thing. He said there would be a place for my songs and I should write whatever I feel.”

 

Locally, Dr. Scoggins has received rewarding opportunities. Three of his songs were used on NewsChannel 9’s Morning Show with Don Welch. Glen Draper, retired UTC music professor who works with choral groups, was interested in a choral arrangement of Ted’s song: “Where Your Treasure is.” Paradiso Music publishing company used two of Ted’s songs as background music for a television show about weddings in Nashville. “My music shows up in surprising places. I was listening to and liking the music on hold one day for Jackson Chevrolet in LaFayette when I suddenly realized it was me playing,” Ted laughs.

With his music and medicine and a great family, Ted is happy with the status quo. “Medicine is structured and well-ordered; music is loose and free flowing, which creates a good balance,” he says. “I don’t know where it’s headed. I’ll just let God surprise me.”

 

Ted’s family has always been supportive. Ted and Joy have three sons and a daughter and now two grandchildren. One son plays bluegrass music when he’s not working for a Marriott hotel, and the others are all teachers. “Ted loves writing music and singing,” Joy says. “We are all proud of him. When he goes into his music room, the kids say, ‘Dad’s in the zone.’”

 

Ted plays both electric and acoustic guitar, keyboard, and bass. He records all the different parts of his songs. Occasionally, he plays with other musicians at Music on the Square, a music venue in downtown LaFayette.

 

“I create from the heart,” he says. “Making money or getting awards is not important to me. Playing in nursing homes and having my songs touch other people’s hearts is as important as winning a Grammy in God’s sight.”