M.a. Nichols

A girl arrives from London to visit her estranged relatives in a remote castle for the reading of her father's will. After a while she discovers that they are all in fact dead and her decision to live with them turns into a nightmare. Unable to leave she's drawn into a macabre underworld through visions of nude satanic rituals and her own impending sacrifice.

Jeb Loy Nichols finally comes home to On-U Sound,the label he first befriended in 1981. A country/dub crossover record, backed by members of Dub Syndicate and the Roots Radics, and with Adrian Sherwood at the controls. The subtle dub production gives Jeb's careworn songs of love and loss a unique sound - this is Nashville-by-way-of-Kingston, Lee Hazlewood if he'd made an album with the Wailers, equal parts Johnny Cash and Horace Andy… Following a limited Japanese release in 2010, the album has been remixed, resequenced and redesigned to present the definitive edition of this sublime set of songs.

For 20 years, Joe Nichols has made a career out of writing sweet and simple country songs that tug at your heartstrings. And he’s right, they just don’t get old. That’s because Nichols never runs out of poignant ways to serenade his lady—on this album, he compares her to a perfect melody, a summer night, and heaven on Earth—in a way that makes him sound like a humble, helpless romantic. Case in point: “If I was a Beatle, I’d sing about yesterday/If I was James Taylor I’d sing about fire and rain/If I was Elvis, I’d sing about by my shoes/But since I’m just me, I’ll sing about you.”

For 20 years, Joe Nichols has made a career out of writing sweet and simple country songs that tug at your heartstrings. And he’s right, they just don’t get old. That’s because Nichols never runs out of poignant ways to serenade his lady—on this album, he compares her to a perfect melody, a summer night, and heaven on Earth—in a way that makes him sound like a humble, helpless romantic. Case in point: “If I was a Beatle, I’d sing about yesterday/If I was James Taylor I’d sing about fire and rain/If I was Elvis, I’d sing about by my shoes/But since I’m just me, I’ll sing about you.”