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| Jeb Loy Nichols got down with Timmion studio crew Cold Diamond & Mink and came up swingin' with "Can't Cheat The Dance" |
Here's the scoop...
Straight outta the green hills of the Welsh countryside comes Jeb Loy Nichols, the newest sensation in Timmion's growing roster of accomplished soul belters. A seasoned and versatile music scene veteran who has knocked out 13 albums under his own name over the past 25 years – apart from his work with The Fellow Travellers, Okra All-Stars and Strange Faith (with Nostalgia 77's Ben Lamdin), Jeb has all the skills required to polish Cold Diamond & Mink's rough grooves into shining gems and provide tasteful production-ready sleeve art to boot. Yes, apart from being a top-notch singer/songwriter and guitarist, Jeb is also an in-demand graphic artist.
"Can't Cheat The Dance" on the A side is a rolling southern-style soul cooker in an Eddie Hinton vein, which the Wyoming-born singer attacks effortlessly with his praise for an honest dance over a stone-solid "Tighten Up" groove from Timmion's reliable studio crew Cold Diamond & Mink. The slow-burn flipside "We Gotta Work On It" kicks off with a churchy sweet organ groove and a simple acoustic guitar which gives Jeb all he needs to tell his story of overcoming life's little ups and downs in a way that recalls Charlie Rich at his bluesy best. You can get a copy from Timmion's Bandcamp page right here. Listen to "Can't Cheat The Dance" below.
Perhaps even better news than the new double-sider is that Jeb and Cold Diamond & Mink have cut a whole 10-track album of soulful goodness for Helsinki's Timmion label dropping June 11th which you can now pre-order right here. While you're waiting for it to arrive in the mail, check out Jeb's great 2019 recording with the Westwood All-Stars, June Is Short, July Is Long on Compass Records, his previous album Country Hustle (City Country City) from 2017 – available here, and the two stellar volumes of Country Got Soul – featuring Tony Joe White, Dan Penn, Townes Van Zandt, Bobbie Gentry, Jim Ford, George Soulé, Travis Wammack, Donnie Fritts and others – which Jeb compiled for Casual Records back in 2003 and 2004.
Born in Wyoming and raised in Missouri, Nichols absorbed the sounds of both rural America and the records played around his house. “We got it all”, he says, “my mom played jazz records, Don Shirley and Ella Fitzgerald, while my dad played bluegrass and Hank Williams.” But it was from the radio that Jeb received his most lasting education. Through the day and late into the night Jeb would listen and take to heart the disparate sounds of the airwaves. “The main station I listened to was out of Kansas City and played country music all day, then at nine o-clock at night they’d switch and become a soul station. It was magic, all this great music; Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, The Staples Singers, all of it right there, in my bedroom, for free.”
When Jeb was fourteen the family moved to Austin, Texas. “The best thing I learned in Austin”, Jeb says, “was how great live music could be. I saw everything from Funkadelic to Bob Marley to George Jones to The Ramones.” It was in Austin that he first heard, and was knocked out by, The Sex Pistols. “That was all new, the sound, the fury, the politics, all of it.” And it led straight to the road again, this time to New York. “I was seventeen”, recalls Jeb, “and New York was like nothing I’d ever seen. I’d always felt like an outsider and then there I was, in a town of outsiders. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.” In New York he was awarded a full scholarship to study painting at Parsons School of Design. He also started hanging out at clubs like Tier 3, The Loft and the Mudd Club where he became friends with members of the Slits and Neneh Cherry. “It was a great time to be in New York, the whole scene was so wide open.” It was the emerging hip hop scene that was most fascinating for him. “It was 1979 – and nothing in the world was more exciting than rap. The Treacherous Three, Funky Four Plus One, Grandmaster Flash – that stuff was so great! And then you had DJs like Larry Levan, it was fantastic.”
After three years in New York, Jeb hit the road again, this time to London. He shared a house with Ari Up from the Slits, Neneh Cherry and producer Adrian Sherwood, and, as he had in NYC, dove into London’s artistic community. “I formed a country band with Joe Brack and we played every kind of show you can think of. We did some bluegrass, some country, a lot of old protest songs.” In 1990 a tape of songs ended up at OKra Records, a small label in Columbus, Ohio. OKra offered Jeb a deal, and Jeb put together a band that included his wife Loraine Morley, On-U Sound man Martin Harrison, and jazz trombonist John Harbourne. The Fellow Travellers merged country-tinged, acoustic-based songs with a dub bottom. “It was fun”, says Jeb “it just worked. We all played what we wanted and stayed out of each others way, and it sounded great. I’ve never had more fun.” The Fellow Travellers released three more albums and were described in Spin as “the lonesome children of Merle, Marley and Marx”.
In 2000, after releasing three solo records, Jeb Loy and Loraine Morley moved to Wales where they’re slowly reclaiming ten acres of neglected scrub land, renovating a barn and putting in a large garden. “I’m sure I’ll move again”, he says, “but not just yet. This feels good, feels like something close to home.”
Listen to "Can't Cheat The Dance" below.
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