Gary Nichols

Most of us born before 1960 remember the first time we heard the Beatles. I'll never forget the radio in our '62 Belair changing from a meaningless grill with indecipherable numbers and knobs, to a living, screaming creature, like a mouth opened on the dashboard. As a teenager I remember hearing Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willis Alan Ramsey for the first time, too. Those guys molded my ideas about what a great song should aspire to be. For starters a great song should have a real purpose. It should know what it wants to say. Unfortunately, in much of our popular world songs don't say much that matters. Not that every song should be a dogmatic lecture, but they should all have substance. That's what I strive to bring to my repertoire of original pieces. Each song addresses aspects of the confusion that is consciousness, hopefully bringing clarity and insight.