WHO:
Jared James Nichols, the young Nashville-based singer-songwriter-guitarist, just released his new EP Shadow Dancer (Black Hill Records); listen to the EP via private link
HERE and on
Spotify,
Apple Music and
Amazon Music.
Jared and his band have launched a fall U.S. tour with Black Stone Cherry and will release a full length album Spring 2022.
Let us know if you’d like to interview Jared and/or attend/review the show (photos and live videos are below for media use).
WHAT:
- Women Who Rock Event — Nashville (event is open to the public)
WHEN + WHERE:
- Wednesday, Oct. 6 at The Vogel in Red Bank, NJ
(w/Black Stone Cherry)
- Thursday, Oct. 7 at Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY
(w/Blues Traveler)
WHY:
After issuing the much-acclaimed 2020 single “Threw Me to the Wolves,” the blues-power firebrand Jared James Nichols entered Blackbird Studios in Nashville with producer Eddie Spear (Jack White, Chris Stapleton) to record the four-song EP, Shadow Dancer. All live, tracked to tape, high-volume and no safety net, Shadow Dancer is Nichols’ most heated and varied offering yet. From the anthemic and hooky lead single, “Skin N’ Bone” to the roiling and turbulent “Saint or Fool,” the full-throttle aggro-chug of “Bad Roots” to the dark atmospherics and deep grooves of the title track, Shadow Dancer sees Nichols digging deep to conjure a set of songs infused with his characteristic passionate vocals and wild guitar pyrotechnics–throughout, his guitar, aka Old Glory acts as a second voice alongside him– while also fearlessly pushing out on his blues-rock boundaries.
Anyone who has experienced Jared James Nichols in the flesh knows that the man – and his music – is a whirlwind of unbridled emotion and energy. And indeed, for his new EP Shadow Dancer he and his trio brought the onstage Jared James Nichols experience straight into the studio, laying down the tracks, guitar solos included, live and loud and capturing lightning in a bottle. While Shadow Dancer is infused with plenty of awe-inspiring six-string moments these songs also reveal new sides to the JJN. The EP’s title track rides in on an evocative, watery guitar line and hushed vocal before exploding with an anguished, hard-rocking and heavy-riffing chorus. The track presents a heavier, grungier side of Nichols, but it’s all part of his musical DNA. “I love the blues, but I also grew up on ‘90s hard rock – Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots,” he says. “And so I wanted to bring in those different colors.” And if you’re looking for those different colors, look no further than “Bad Roots,” which marries a Tom Petty-esque classic-rock chord progression to a full-on heavy metal rhythmic assault, and tops it off with a hushed, semi-chanted vocal.
“I love trying to push the limits of what I think is possible with my songwriting and with this music,” Nichols says. To be sure, it’s something he’s been doing since his earliest days on the scene. “I used to be, like, a 12-bar guy,” he recalls about his early approach to the blues. But whether it be his unique, pick-less approach to guitar playing, or his desire to create his own one-of-a-kind instrument – which, in a nice full-circle moment, has since been recreated twice by Epiphone as the Jared James Nichols Les Paul Custom “Gold Glory” in Gold and “Old Glory” in Ebony–Nichols was just named Gibson’s newest Global Ambassador, an honor previously bestowed on Slash–he has ever since carved out his own singular path in the music world, and in the process has brought the blues screaming into the 21st century. “I try and interpret this music in my own way,” Nichols says. “For me, it’s not about trying to be traditional or act as if I’m from a certain era – it’s about breathing fresh air into this music that I love. Shadow Dancer, he continues, “feels like 2021 blues – it’s all my emotions, all my feelings, all my angst and energy bottled up in one record. It’s my version of the blues.”
