NOT-SO CORNY: SONGWRITER GARY NICHOLSON, ALTER-EGO WHITEY JOHNSON SHARE JUNE 7 RELEASE FOR BLUE CORN MUSIC ALBUMS THE GREAT DIVIDE AND MORE DAYS LIKE THIS

(Courtesy: Conqueroo)
Texas-born Nashvillian Nicholson probes nation’s fault lines, urges healing;
Johnson delivers the medicine in doses of R&B-flavored ‘feel better blues’ 

Gary Nicholson’s mile-long list of achievements as a songwriter, producer and performer includes writing credits on hundreds of country, blues, Americana and pop songs recorded by some of the world’s best no-last-name-needed legends, from B.B., Bonnie, Buddy and Delbert to Ringo, Waylon and Willie. But unless they’ve seen him in action, most people couldn’t pick the two-time Grammy winner out of a lineup. Performing under two different names — his own, and that of “obscure bluesman” Whitey Johnson— while releasing hardly any albums credited to either, has only fanned the air of mystery that seems to surround his career. But the simultaneous June 7, 2019 arrival of two new albums — Nicholson’s The Great Divide and Johnson’s More Days Like This— should go a long way toward connecting the dots for fans of the aforementioned legends and legions of other artists who regularly tap the Nashville resident’s talents. Both titles are being released by Texas label Blue Corn Music — a bit of icing on the cake for the 2011 Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.
 
“Having both records come out at once gives me a chance to present different directions my music has been taking lately,” Nicholson explains. “Since 2016, I haven’t been able to stop writing songs in reaction to this hurtful political climate. At the same time, I’ve been having a lot of fun playing my funkier, bluesy R&B songs with various musicians around the country as Whitey Johnson.”

In The Great Divide’s folk-rooted, mostly self-penned songs, Nicholson contemplates our nation’s troubled state, while appealing for us to bridge our schisms and find common ground. 
 
“It's overwhelming for all of us,” Nicholson says. “We need music to soothe our souls, as it did in the days of ‘For What It’s Worth’ and ‘What's Going On’ and ‘Give Peace a Chance.’ Back then, music helped us get through the madness a little easier. With today’s troubles, I wasn’t hearing anybody singing about what’s on everybody’s mind every day, so I decided I had to put these songs out there.’”

More Days Like This leavens the gravity of that subject matter with mood-elevating doses of “feel-better blues,” the perfect prescription for getting any party started — or just giving listeners a little respite from worldly woes.

Whitey Johnson
In addition to three never-recorded solo compositions, More Days Like This features versions of seven Nicholson co-writes popularized by artists he’s been working with for years. “The Blues Is Alive and Well” and “Skin Deep” became the title tracks of two Buddy Guy albums — both of which won Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammys. Nicholson wrote “Starting a Rumor” with Guy Clark and Delbert McClinton, who recorded it on Acquired Taste. (Nicholson earned his Grammys for producing McClinton’s Best Contemporary Blues Album winners Nothing Personal and Cost of Living.) Robert Plant is one of several artists who covered the gorgeous, bluesy soul ballad “If It’s Really Gotta Be This Way,” written by Nicholson, Donnie Fritts and Muscle Shoals legend Arthur Alexander. Except for that melancholy breakup song and the anti-racism message of “Skin Deep,” More Days Like This mostly maintains a good-time R&B-revue vibe, while nodding to the bluesmen Nicholson has revered since childhood — the ones who inspired Whitey Johnson’s creation 10 years ago. That blues influence also appears on The Great Divide; the tune “Trickle Down” could easily be covered by Taj Mahal and his pal Keb’ Mo’. (Nicholson, Taj and Keb’ Mo’, coincidentally, co-wrote “Don’t Leave Me Here,” the first single on the duo’s Grammy-winning TajMo album). In “The Blues in Black and White,” Nicholson recounts the racism he saw while touring with black musicians as a teen. Those experiences left strong impressions, compelling him to speak out against the hatred rising.
 
He laments these ills in “God Help America,” which debuted with a majestic, moving video before the November midterm elections. A soulful duet with Texas gospel-blues great Ruthie Foster, Nicholson’s recasting of the standard becomes a prayer for strength to repair the foundational cracks in our “sweet, troubled home.” There’s a more hopeful attitude on the ragtime sing-along, “Hallelujah Anyhow,” on which he’s joined by the McCrary Sisters. Nicholson and master multi-instrumentalist John Jorgensen built the album’s tracks at Nicholson’s studio, Fearless Recording, with additional guests including Dan Dugmore, Colin Linden and Joe Robinson. More Days Like This, recorded over two days at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, also features Linden and the McCrarys, along with McClinton and several other guests. Together, these albums present two more chapters in a remarkable, wide-ranging career. Nicholson is thankful he’s had opportunities to collaborate with so many of his heroes, as well as contemporary artists from Joe Bonamassa to Brad Paisley. 
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“It’s great to be able to do all this,” he says, adding, “I’m just having fun making music.”