Nick Eberhardt

Audio/ Click Link to watch YouTube backstage vid - The Grapevine

?Glimpses of the South Florida Scene is a column devoted to the artists thriving within Broward and Palm Beach counties featuring interviews with the folks making it happen. This week, Nick Eberhardt.

Nick Eberhardt started playing live at the tender age of 16, long before he settled in Florida -- and just before he started training under master finger-picker Tim Sparks. With stints playing in blues bars, being on the road, and sleeping on couches, Eberhardt has had enough rugged grooming to mold him into the folk musician he is today.

His debut, Can You Feel It (available for free download here), is filled with the kind of heartfelt, folky rock that makes for warm listening, but he is good at maneuvering himself into the realm of something grand. Just listen to the echoes on the title track's chorus. The songs are strong, and Nick -- always sincere -- is unafraid of big soul, whether that manifests itself musically or lyrically. We spoke to him about his traveling-man roots, his release, and his rules for doing things right. - County Grind

NICK EBERHARDT'S LIVING ROOM CONCERT SERIES
"I write a few songs from time to time and I started thinking, 'Why do I have to make a whole record before I let people buy it or take a free copy?' " West Palm Beach singer-songwriter Nick Eberhardt writes on his new Web site, Noisebynick.com. "So I started this site. I record in my house, or at other studios. [And] when something new is finished, I'll make it downloadable on here, and voila, it's all yours."

These downloads include "Redefine the Nature," which Eberhardt appropriately says is "kind of a Tex Mex tune," and the Golden Now EP, featuring three songs from his forthcoming album, Can You Feel It. His Web site also includes the Living Room Concert Series, for which Eberhardt films himself performing while seated on a stool next to his couch. In the videos for "Golden Now" and "Can You Feel It," Eberhardt plays acoustic guitar and kick drum, his voice sounding not unlike Ryan Adams in his more-plaintive moments. - Colleen Dougher (City Link Magazine)

?In late March, we reported about the blitzkrieg recording exploits of able West Palm Beach musician Nick Eberhardt. The head of Black Key-ish group the Darklights (and Noble Rocket, previously) embarked on an ambitious solo recording mission with the help of Young Circles' frontman Jordy Asher and waxed ten solid tracks in one month's time. It's was all part of National Public Radio's RPM Challenge -- a yearly contest calling artists to write and record original material solely in February and have it postmarked by March 1.

The result, Can You Feel It, turned out to be a wistful collection of singer/songwriter stuff that sounds exceptionally planned out and the furthest thing from a slapdash affair to meet deadline. Eberhardt calls these ten numbers "folkie with a touch of indie." We are not going to disagree with the artist's self-description, as they do, at times, cross similar alt-country/alt-folk terrain as acts like Wilco or Ryan Adams, but Eberhardt also displays a bittersweet intimacy with these tunes -- in reaction to the loss of his father in December -- that have us reflecting back to the tender moments off Jeff Buckley's Grace.

None more heartfelt than "Golden Now," one of three songs on the record that Eberhardt wrote in honor of his father -- "Heirs to Attend" and the title track being the other two. It's a plaintive track with moving words that deal with Eberhardt's coming to terms with loss. It's one of those numbers that will assuredly get the listener a little choked up if he is not careful.

Eberhardt captures the magic of this track in his Living Room Concert Series -- some grainy videos he posted on YouTube last week -- where he gives a gripping, bare-bones performance with just himself on a stool while gently strumming his acoustic guitar and tapping his kick drum.

Can You Feel It will make its official unveiling this Friday at Propaganda. This digital record release party is free. Fans will have an opportunity to reserve a copy of the vinyl pressing of the album, which is due out in May, by purchasing a limited-edition 12-inchby12-inch piece of artwork from local artist Jennifer D. Basing. Eberhardt will be joined by fellow singer/songwriters Kevin Popejoy, Johnny Buscemi, Catlin Schurr, and scuzz-folk rockers Harvey and the Buckets.

Also, Eberhardt will perform on WPBR-AM (1340) at 11 a.m. Friday. - Alex Rendon (Maimi New Times)