Tag: Gary Nicholson

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Sister Sadie, Jordan Tice, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Music is a balm, isn’t it? We’re finding that to be especially true in this week’s edition of our premiere round-up, You Gotta Hear This!

Check out a brand new country track from singer-songwriter Phillip Lammonds. Californian-turned-Nashvillian Jake Neuman and his band the Jaybirds brought us a new video for “Saved” off their recent EP, Little Bitty Town, too. Plus, bluegrass supergroup Sister Sadie keep the country vibes going – with a delicious ’90s bent and bluegrass instrumentation – on their brand new single, “Make Me Stay or Make Me Go.”

You’ll also find guitarist, singer-songwriter, and composer Jordan Tice previewing his new song, “Mean Old World,” which drops on Tuesday, November 12, and announces his upcoming album, Badlettsville. In addition, Rachel Sumner’s Traveling Light Sessions video series continues with a live trio performance of “Head East.”

Also don’t miss Kim Richey performing a short set of songs as part of the AEA Sessions captured at Americanafest earlier this year – it’s the latest in our series partnering with AEA Ribbon Mics.

It’s all right here on BGS and, indubitably, You Gotta Hear This!

Phillip Lammonds, “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong”

Artist: Phillip Lammonds
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong”
Release Date: November 11, 2025

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong’ when I was thinking back to being a kid really digging into the sounds that came from my papa Parton’s wooden upright RCA radio. I sat criss-cross applesauce on countless summer afternoons, just glued to the tones and the sorcery of it all, wondering where the songs came from. How’d they get in that box? Fast forward a half a lifetime or so, I’m still scratching my head. Anyway, the craft in all this has taught me one thing: songs are like fish, they swim around until you catch ’em!” – Phillip Lammonds

Jake Neuman and the Jaybirds, “Saved”

Artist: Jake Neuman and The JayBirds
Hometown: Bakersfield, California
Song: “Saved”
Album: Little Bitty Town
Release Date: November 8, 2024 (video); June 14, 2024 (EP)
Label: Peacedale Records

In Their Words: “‘Saved’ was the first song I wrote when I moved to Nashville. I remember having the first line or so on paper and feeling like I had something, so I immediately went to my number one writing partner – Amanda McCaslin of McCaslin Blue – and asked her what she thought. We spent the afternoon pacing around the yard and putting a line or two down every few minutes until we put something together that I am really proud of.” – Jake Neuman

Video Credit: Directed by Greg D Griffith

Sister Sadie, “Make Me Stay or Make Me Go”

Artist: Sister Sadie
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Make Me Stay or Make Me Go”
Release Date: November 8, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “‘Make Me Stay or Make Me Go’ brings to mind everything I loved about ’90s country. This was written by three of my favorite writers: Jessi Alexander, Al Anderson, and Gary Nicholson. This song screams sawing fiddles and a good ole line dance. Who didn’t love country music in the ’90s? I feel like it’s creeping around the corner again, too; at least I hope it is. This is all of us Sadies tipping a hat to the country music we love so much with our bluegrass instrumentation and some very talented friends to help.” – Deanie Richardson, fiddle

Track Credits:
Jaelee Roberts – Lead vocal
Deanie Richardson – Fiddle
Gena Britt – Banjo, harmony vocal
Dani Flowers – Harmony vocal
Maddie Dalton – Upright bass
Mary Meyer – Mandolin
Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Dave Racine – Drums, tambourine
Russ Pahl – Pedal steel guitar
Catherine Marx – Hammond B3 organ

Jordan Tice, “Mean Old World”

Artist: Jordan Tice
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Mean Old World”
Album: Badlettsville
Release Date: November 12, 2024 (single)
Label: Padiddle Records

In Their Words: “‘Mean Old World’ is about the inevitable loss and change that life brings. I wrote it rather quickly while watching my neighbors through the windows as they loaded a U-Haul truck to move out. Something about watching material objects being put into boxes signifying the end of an era of someone’s life really struck a chord with me and I was able to live in the feeling long enough to get this song out. That flood of emotion that occurs when a temporal event marks the end of a chapter you will never return to is a familiar sensation that I’ve felt when I’ve moved myself, while I’ve watch my hometown of Nashville knocked down and changed, and when I’ve lost loved ones and had relationships end. Hope it gives you a good cry.” – Jordan Tice

Track Credits:
Jordan Tice – Guitar, vocals,
Aoife O’Donovan – Harmony vocals
Andrew Marlin – Harmony vocals
Patrick M’Gonigle – Fiddle, mandolin
Paul Kowert – Bass
Sean Sullivan – Recording, mixing,
Mark Goodell – Aoife O’Donovan vocal recording
Mike Monseur – Mastering

AEA Sessions, Kim Richey, Live at Americanafest 2024

Artist: Kim Richey
Hometown: Zanesville, Ohio
Songs: “Chapel Avenue,” “Angels’ Share,” “The Absence Of Your Company,” “Take The Cake”

In Their Words: “I really enjoyed working with the gang at [AEA] Ribbon Mics. The mics are great and the folks are wonderful to work with.” – Kim Richey

“Kim is a treasure. Every song is like a masterclass in songwriting and her voice invites you right into tableaus her songs create.” – Julie Tan, AEA Ribbon Mics

More here.

Rachel Sumner, “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless Things 
Release Date: November 7, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Head East’ is our next release from Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions). It has an extra special place in my heart, because it was the first song I ever wrote. Thirteen years ago, I moved to Boston from the Mojave Desert in California (where I grew up) and felt such a connection with the city and a feeling of possibility that I got there – a feeling I didn’t find in my hometown. This song was a plea to my younger brother to get out and find his good fortune elsewhere, just as I had.

“For this song, Kat Wallace trades her fiddle for the tenor guitar, and Mike Siegel adds a sublime third-part harmony that makes the chorus feel like heaven. ‘Head East’ has had many lives and arrangements, but this one is quite possibly my favorite.” – Rachel Sumner

More here.

Photo Credit: Sister Sadie by Allister Ann; Jordan Tice by Cameron Knowler.

BGS 5+5: Janiva Magness

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Janiva Magness
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Latest Album: Hard to Kill (Fathead Records)
Personal Nicknames: J

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Truthfully, it is impossible to choose one because there have been so many over the course of my career. And I am a homework kind of person, so my habits are when I do find someone I am deeply moved by, I study them and THEIR influences. So I see it as generations of artists all kinda influencing each other. For example, Bonnie Raitt at certain point early on was a huge influence for me, not just in her music, but in the fact that she was a female bandleader who musically has ALWAYS done what she wanted and refused to be one-dimensional. I love that and it was super empowering for a young girl and young woman to see and hear. And her early blues influences and songwriter influences and friends are all very important for me — Sippie Wallace to Lightnin’ Hopkins to Son House to John Prine!

Otis Rush was another one, for his playing and singing and no-holds-barred approach to both. I was a 14-year-old kid the first time I saw him live. It was truly a spiritual experience for me. B.B. King similarly, who had heavy gospel influences in his singing, whom I saw the same year… what a great year! I was in my early 20s the first time I saw what we used to call a “Three-Way” — James Brown, Martha Reeves and Etta James. Etta’s greatest influence was Johnny “Guitar” Watson and gospel music! Etta was the opener on that show and her performance alone was like four years of college education in one show! She sang and held that stage as if her life depended on it — and I believed her! Another profound lesson in “this is how it’s done.” Priceless.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

I was advised pretty early on that I needed to have control of my own instrument. Especially if I wanted to make sure I could do my job to the best of my ability. That means taking care of my instrument so I can sing and carry the story of the song with ease, so I can connect with the audience. It also means not abusing my voice. Doing warm-ups and all the disciplines singers have to do to keep in good form. Secondarily, if I expected the other musicians to bring their best, I had better bring mine! All the great vocalists I admire have full command of their instruments and their bandstands. It is too difficult to get respect otherwise.

Also to keep my personal life off the bandstand (with the players). Super important for me. Now that doesn’t mean I can’t put whatever is happening with me personally INTO the music. I think that IS right to do, at least for me. But romance on the bandstand/within the band is trouble — it always has been for me so I had to quit that practice and it has served me well!

In terms of songwriting advice, the best advice I have gotten is to keep writing, writing, writing and then edit, edit, edit! Asking myself how can I say it truthfully with fewer words? That is easier said than done for me. Sometimes it’s real hard work but always worth it!

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I always do vocal warm-ups — 15 to 20 minutes with a recording of my vocal coach and steam for my voice. Super helpful. It allows me the flexibility I need with my instrument. I will eat high-protein food one to two hours before having to sing. It’s pretty much like a holy time for me. I just stop all the “outside world” distractions and B.S. and focus on the music. It’s wonderful and sets me up for the right kind of focus before singing. I also cut off the phone calls/texts/emails during that time for basically the same reason. “Don’t bother me, I’m singing!!”

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I always struggle with songwriting. Maybe it’s part of the ritual for me. I don’t know… But when my first marriage ended, it was a pretty brutal time, understandably. Gary Nicholson, who is a good friend, told me, “You’re gonna get some good songs outta this…” “Ugh,” I thought, but he was right! Writing the songs for my 2014 release, Original, was hard, particularly the song “When You Were My King.” I was not yet divorced but in that purgatory state of separation-knowing-its-dead-but-not-done-yet. I suppose because the song articulates that very moment of the cut, when it is undeniably clear the marriage is over and time actually stands still. You see all of it. The love. The regrets. The wishes and the sorrow. You can’t take any of it back. That song is a Polaroid of that brutal, poignant moment. I am wildly grateful for my co-writers Andrew Lowden, Lauren Bliss and Dave Darling, for their delicate touch with me during such a difficult time — which allowed that time to also be wildly creative, and Original was born!

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I don’t really see it as hiding. I think of it more as how to get the story across. I want to be sure to get the meat of the story across when writing — right? SO is that best articulated as ”you” or “me”…? That’s all. At the end of the day, it’s all me anyway if I am writing on it, or singing someone else’s songs trying to bring myself to the story. I do think of it as becoming the character in the song or the storyteller, if you will. But if I am covering someone else’s material, I am doing so because I deeply connect with the tale being told, I mean it’s personal to me. If it’s not, I don’t have the first desire to sing it because I think the real job is about connection. For that to happen, it has to be real or the audience can tell, that is my experience.

Photo Credit: Jay Gilbert

LISTEN: Stoney LaRue, “You Ought to Know Me by Now”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Stoney LaRue
Hometown: Born in Taft, Texas; raised in the Buffalo Valley in Oklahoma.
Song: “You Ought to Know Me by Now”
Album: Onward
Release Date: November 1, 2019
Label: One Chord Song/Smith Entertainment

In Their Words: “Gary Nicholson wrote this one with his writing buddy Shawn Camp and suggested it would be a good fit for the album — with which I agreed. It has gotten wonderful feedback from the live crowds and is very relatable, especially to the demographic I play to and for. Wonderful, fun tune. I hope to write some more like it with Gary.” — Stoney LaRue

Photo credit: Richard Arp-Barnett

WATCH: Chris Knight, “Crooked Mile”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Chris Knight
Hometown: Slaughters, Kentucky
Song: “Crooked Mile”
Album: Almost Daylight
Release Date: October 11, 2019
Label: Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “I wrote this song with a friend of mine, Gary Nicholson. Carried a verse and a half around for about a year before we worked on it. Wrote it two or three times then I rewrote the chorus that worked for me. It was the same idea, I just changed the way I said it. It’s about a couple of kids that never had much love or anything else. Then they found something good in each other and they’ll fight to the death for it.” — Chris Knight

Photo credit: Ray Kennedy

LISTEN: Whitey Johnson, “If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Whitey Johnson (aka Gary Nicholson)
Hometown: Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Song: “If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way”
Album: More Days Like This
Release Date: June 7, 2019
Label: Blue Corn Music

In Their Words: “‘If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way’ was co-written with Donnie Fritts and Arthur Alexander. One of Donnie’s treasured memories is of being present at the studio above the drugstore in Florence, Alabama, when Arthur walked in snapping his fingers and singing ‘You Better Move On.’ I was thrilled to have the opportunity to write and play on a new record by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his time, revered and covered by Beatles, Stones, Dylan, and many more. It was so sad when Arthur passed before he could tour for the record. I played his last show with him, and we did our song. It’s so great to finally record my own version. I’m forever grateful to my dear friend Donnie Fritts for getting us together.” — Whitey Johnson

Photo credit: Stacie Huckaba