Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Guitarist Nick Diaz is a musical chameleon who negotiates his cinematic shifts and twists with passion and purpose.
-Michael Molenda - Guitar Player Magazine
Guitarist Nick Diaz is a musical chameleon who negotiates his cinematic shifts and twists with passion and purpose.
-Michael Molenda - Guitar Player Magazine
It's rare to find young blues guitar demigods who are embodying the spirit of the music, not just aping it, and rarer still to find one who's savvy and talented enough to incorporate other styles into the mix. Fortunately for us all, transplanted Texan Nick Diaz and his power trio deliver on all of the above with this, their debut CD. Nick's not doing anything startling with his instrument, but he sounds more honest on these ten tracks than most of his peers, and that goes for his vocals, as well; Diaz sounds like he has something to say, even if his delivery and the production (intentionally or not) cloak it a little too well.
His stylistic breadth is impressive, too, covering the entire history of blues-rock: the track "Summertime" recalls the sad liquid grandeur of Led Zeppelin's "Ten Years Gone" (right down to the opening line), while "Never Gonna See It Through" rides the same exact groove found in Stevie Ray's version of "Cold Shot," and both the marvelous opener and "Crazy Brother" feel like lost Living Colour outtakes.
Like any good New Orleanian, he also brings the funk occasionally with the stop-time star time James Brown jerk of songs like the ironically titled "The Blues Live In Texas," but this CD is essentially a cartography lesson, mapping the exact coordinates where blues and rock have met throughout time.
The fact that Diaz seems to be doing it for love and not money bodes well. Not just for his genre and his career, but also for his new home. Smart guitar wizards are hard to come by.
-Robert Fontenot
- Offbeat Magazine
It's rare to find young blues guitar demigods who are embodying the spirit of the music, not just aping it, and rarer still to find one who's savvy and talented enough to incorporate other styles into the mix. Fortunately for us all, transplanted Texan Nick Diaz and his power trio deliver on all of the above with this, their debut CD. Nick's not doing anything startling with his instrument, but he sounds more honest on these ten tracks than most of his peers, and that goes for his vocals, as well; Diaz sounds like he has something to say, even if his delivery and the production (intentionally or not) cloak it a little too well.
His stylistic breadth is impressive, too, covering the entire history of blues-rock: the track "Summertime" recalls the sad liquid grandeur of Led Zeppelin's "Ten Years Gone" (right down to the opening line), while "Never Gonna See It Through" rides the same exact groove found in Stevie Ray's version of "Cold Shot," and both the marvelous opener and "Crazy Brother" feel like lost Living Colour outtakes.
Like any good New Orleanian, he also brings the funk occasionally with the stop-time star time James Brown jerk of songs like the ironically titled "The Blues Live In Texas," but this CD is essentially a cartography lesson, mapping the exact coordinates where blues and rock have met throughout time.
The fact that Diaz seems to be doing it for love and not money bodes well. Not just for his genre and his career, but also for his new home. Smart guitar wizards are hard to come by.
-Robert Fontenot
- Offbeat Magazine
. . . . Guitarist Nick Diaz piles enough Led Zeppelin riffs to build several houses of the holy.
-Adam Harrington - Whisperin and Hollerin
. . . . Guitarist Nick Diaz piles enough Led Zeppelin riffs to build several houses of the holy.
-Adam Harrington - Whisperin and Hollerin
Discography
Sketches of a Season: Independent Release 2006
Live at Tipitina's: Independent Release 2004
Our Time: Independent Release 2002
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Honest. That’s what I’m gonna give you. I’ve loved music for as long as I can remember. All the cliché stories of loving the records my dad played for me as a kid are true. I snuck into blues clubs when I was under age and moved away from my home and family at the age of 18. New Orleans became my new home and I still consider it to be my home more than I do Houston. Probably because it’s where “I” chose to live, "IT" didn’t choose me.
Tales of life on Bourbon Street, sun rises in the morning, heartache, happiness, friendships, love, and music are all written in my book; with each story and chapter sharing itself in a lyric or song of mine. I work hard, live hard, play hard, and love hard. Why do it any other way?
New York City is my home now; I love and cherish every moment here. In a second, like New Orleans, it could all be gone. The city’s energy, soul, sounds, streets, lights, and people all spark me to create and breath; taking in all I can while here in this place, NOW. This is my life. I am my own artist, my own person, my own mind, and my own believer. Honest, remember?
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