ALL AGES
STANDING ROOM ONLY
All Bad, the latest album from Nick Shoulders, ultimately encapsulates everything that makes Shoulders’ inimitable form of country music so vital: a heady balance of dazzling musicianship and punk defiance, coupled with gritty eccentricity and a generational connection to the roots of the genre. With a singing style inherited from his family’s vocal lineage, Nick’s songs achieve the rare feat of imparting difficult truths while inciting a certain joyful abandon, balancing a sound forged by years of hard travel with a heartfelt reverence for the origins of country music. In the spirit of Hazel Dickens and Jimmy Driftwood, the incisive yet wildly jubilant All Bad vocally objects to the reckless destruction of the natural landscape and development run rampant, while still offering plenty of joy and dance-ready rhythms. Spanning a variety of early country styles, the album’s infectious harmonies shine alongside everything from jangling cajun waltzes to surf-rock infused bluesy ballads–all tied together by a voice seemingly out of place in this century, yet ever ready to speak up about its problems.
Released via Gar Hole Records (a label founded and co-owned by Shoulders), All Bad marks the first LP made with his longtime band, the Okay Crawdad, since 2019’s premier full-length Okay, Crawdad and their subsequent pandemic-imposed hiatus. After writing most of the album from the front seat of a tour van, the Fayetteville, AR-based musician and bandmates Grant D’Aubin (harmonies/bass), Cheech Moosekian (drums) and Jack Studer (lead guitar) recorded the album in a home studio on the banks of the Mississippi River with New Orleans collaborators Ross Farbe and Sam Doores.
Jack Studer is your neighbor. He’s your buddy sitting on the porch picking tunes with a smile on his face, flipping over an old bucket for you to pull up a seat. Jack’s music is as welcoming as the man himself, but don’t let its easy-going nature fool you. He has been honing his singular voice for over a decade, and after traveling endless miles and countless stages, he still makes time to sing a song all his own. Jack’s prowess as a guitar player has earned him a place as the newest member of Nick Shoulders and The Okay Crawdad and he continues touring with his long time friends the West King String Band.
Hearts Gone South plays original, old style country and honky tonk full of heart and soul, laced with wit and woe. Bringing fire and feeling to the age old stories of love, loss, heartache, and victory for the underdog. Entertaining audiences from Asheville to Alaska, Hearts Gone South has a “vintage sound with modern production values” Their catalog is a range of barn burners with smoking leads, to tear soaked ballads, and everything in between.Hearts Gone South is JP Parsons – tele, acoustic guitar, and harmonies, Ian Wade – electric bass, upright bass, and harmonies, Scott Thomas- Drums, Silas Hamilton – pedal steel, Tricia Tripp – lead vocalist and song writer. The band is based in Asheville, with members living in Asheville, Bristol and Shelby. They ride back and forth across the mountain range to bring their absolute best to the stage.