Johnny Nicholas feels the music, from blues to rock and everything in between. His credentials? Impeccable. Conviction? Immeasurable. And chops? If an instrument’s got strings, keys, or reeds he can play the hell out of it. He’s also a consummate songwriter and a great singer blessed with a warm, toasty growl of a voice that can roll from rumble to croon and back again with seductive ease.
Marcia Ball calls Nicholas “an extremely engaging innovative traditionalist” who “writes instant classics and sings them to break your heart and rock your soul.” But the key word there is “innovative,” because as deep as his roots go — and we’re talking about a cat who learned firsthand from the likes of Robert Lockwood Jr., Howlin’ Wolf, Big Walter Horton, and Johnny Shines (to name but a few of the legends he studied under early in his five-decade career) — Nicholas does not paint in one color.
As befits a soul who’s spent a lifetime soaking up the flavor of such vibrant music scenes as Ann Arbor(in the early 70’s), Chicago, South Louisiana and Texas (which he’s called home now for nearly 40 years), his music is full-spectrum Americana — a rich gumbo of not just blues, but cajun, western swing, honky tonk and barrelhouse rock ’n’ roll.
As an artist and performer he can mesmerize a listening room crowd or bring a festival crowd to their feet with his rollicking boogie woogie piano and his stellar band.
For proof, just take a listen to Nicholas’ eclectic collection of original American roots music, 2021’s Mistaken Identity on Valcour Records which finds him drawing on all of the above and deep into his soul for words of wit, wisdom, and heart. As the esteemed writer Bill Bentley puts it best, “He’s someone who cares about being real, and the hell with everything else … .”
With Cajun fiddler, David Greely
David Greely, founding fiddler of the Mamou Playboys, has for years been assembling a repertoire of uncommon Cajun music. He uses old and rare tunes, new companion pieces to the old ones, and striking new melodies that meld Cajun roots with fiddle sounds he’s heard in his travels worldwide and arranges them with novel instrumentation and rich harmonies.
and on stand-up bass, Brian Williams
Dubbed by Frank DeBlase as the "Top Cat on the Bottom End," Rochester-based bassist Brian Williams seems to be everywhere. He plays everything from swing jazz to blues to bossa nova. He’s been a member of Bobby Henrie and the Goners for many decades. He's shared the bill with national acts, including Muddy Waters, Albert King, and Asleep at the Wheel, and taught slap bass technique workshops across the Pacific Northwest.
