Album Notes

TEXAS BLUESMAN JOHNNY NICHOLAS RETURNS WITH BACK-TO-BASICS COUNTRY BLUES, ROOTS AND SOUL ON ‘FUTURE BLUES’ JUNE 13

Though Texas bluesman Johnny Nicholas has played with the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf, Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt – not to mention his former group Asleep At The Wheel – in recent years, you’d be more likely to find him at his roadhouse restaurant The Hill Top Café near Fredricksburg, TX. Nicholas, who Texas music legend Stephen Bruton called “one of the best bluesmen ever,” is set to release his first album in six years, ‘Future Blues,’ on June 13 via The People’s Label and tour with an all-star band this spring and summer.

Musicians on the album include Cindy Cashdollar (Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield), guitarist “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb (Ian McLagan, The Resentments), drummer John Chipman (Band of Heathens), accordion and keyboardist Joel Guzman (Joe Ely), and guest appearances by Sam Broussard and Jimmie Vaughan. ‘Future Blues’ was produced by Bruce Hughes (The Resentments, Texas Sheiks, Jason Mraz), who also plays bass on the record.

The tone of ‘Future Blues’ is set with lead-off track “Hey Hey,” a jaunty boogie-woogie with stellar harmonica work, Nicholas’ voice smoky and assertive. “Hard Time Livin’” and “Roads On Fire” are two slow-burning stand-outs supported by gritty guitar and Cashdollar’s slide flourishes that melt into the rhythm section, while Nicholas’ re-imagined version of Dylan’s “(It’s All Over Now) Baby Blue” is punctuated by a free-spirited, driving shuffle.

‘Future Blues’ reunites Nicholas, Hughes, and Cashdollar after their successful collaboration with Geoff Muldaur, Bruton and Jim Kweskin on the 2008 acoustic blues Texas Sheiks project.