There are voices that impress you.

And then there are voices that feel like they’ve been EARNED.

Al Nicol’s voice carries the high lonesome ache of Bill Monroe, the raw vulnerability of early Bon Iver, and the spiritual sway of Neil Young’s Harvest era.

But what makes it unforgettable isn’t tone it’s the absolute TRUTH.

In this episode of Americana Curious, Al opens up about masculinity, mortality, anxiety, and the years he spent “on the sidelines of life.”

He shares how confronting severe athletic anorexia and the pressure of silent expectations became the breakthrough that unlocked his upper register and ultimately led to Only Hoping, recorded with MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger.

This is a story about breaking OUT OF THE CAGE.

About groove over perfection. About self-acceptance over self-punishment.

About how pain, when faced honestly, can become art of the highest caliber.

If you care about songwriting… I

f you listen to albums front to back…

If you believe music can change someone’s life…

You’re in the right place for this powerful interview with Al Nicol

Question: If someone feels like they’re still on the sidelines of their own life… what would you tell them?

If you love the high lonesome ache of Bill Monroe, the raw vulnerability of early Bon Iver, or the spiritual sway of Neil Young's Harvest era, you need to hear Al Necklace.

That's the song that I heard.

And I went, who is this guy?

And what is this song?

I needed to talk to Al.

But this episode isn't just about an incredible voice.

It's about what happens when you break out of the cage of expectations.

The pressure to be strong, silent, and fine even when you're not.

I developed severe athletic anorexia, completely subsumed in this obsessive need to run at least an hour a day, eat under a thousand calories, do it every single day at minimum, if not more.

Al turned that season into Only Hoping, recorded with MC Taylor of Hiskill Messenger.

And what came out of it was cathartic, psychedelic Americana about masculinity, immortality, groove, and self acceptance.

And what hit us hardest was this.

I definitely spent many years on the sidelines of life observing it, waiting for a conclusion or something.

It's time to get Americana curious with Al Nichol.

Welcome to Americana Curious Al Nichol.

Welcome, sir.

Hello, Alex.

In the Americana world, we often talk about the term high lonesome.

That's that sound that Bill Monroe pioneered, the bluegrass days, which is kind of a mix of isolation and spiritual yearning.

And, yes, I was looking that up just to make sure I really, you know, like.

Like, that really came to me.

You have that same kind of incredible cathedral like, clarity.

And listeners, Americana fans, you need to hear this.

But then you layer this in with this psych Americana that reminds us of raw acoustic vulnerability.

Dare I say Bon, or, like early Bon Iver and Neil Young.

And I don't.

I don't make those comparisons lightly.

But take us back to the moment when was the moment that you discovered you could make that sound with your voice?

And, y', all, when you hear.

Yes, you will immediately hear what I'm talking about.

It is incredible.

When was the moment?

Well, it was probably during the pandemic when I just leaned into my vulnerability for real, and.

And I just felt this kind of cathartic release in the upper register.

And it was remarkable to me because I used to be a kind of a.

And I still kind of am.

I kind of struggle with anxiety, with emotional expression, with.

I'm kind of a tight ass sometimes, and I definitely used to be.

And so when I.

When I.

When I was able to find this sort of range in my voice that I was able to go to, it kind of allowed me to release A lot of tension and I was able to express emotion in my voice that I couldn't really as a person.

And so pretty quickly after that I realized.

I mean, I was such a big fan of his Golden Messengers.

Quietly blowing it around that time and a little bit after, and I just heard such emotional depth in.

In.

In that music and I thought, wow, if only I could work with someone like his golden messenger, like MC Taylor, because I think we would.

I think he'd understand what I'm doing and he.

We'd probably make something cool together.

This is like your vision board coming together.

Yeah, See, on the.

On the proverbial vision board one day.

Yeah, I mean, it happened.

It happened quite, quite serendipitously, I would say.

I was.

I was just on Instagram and I. I messaged.

I was going to ask this.

You DM'd him correctly, right?

Yes.

And thank.

Thank.

Thank God.

Thanks to the higher powers.

He.

He responded, but.

So he's a big reason why Only hoping sounds the way that it does.

A briety and biscuits, you wanted wine Then in the night you came for me unlocked my cage, set me free by the morning I could finally see.

You were like a flower in the desert heat.

But just to go back to my voice, I. I grew up in.

In an Anglican choral setting.

So I was singing.

Yeah, I was singing Episcopal Anglican.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm in the Whiskey Pallian group myself.

Really?

Here in Charleston.

Charleston's known as the holy city.

Charleston, South Carolina.

Okay.

And so we're Episcopal.

Well, yeah.

I can't sing that way, though.

Oh, no.

Well, you can sing.

He can't sing.

He's.

I've got a terrible.

Nice low bird town.

Well, I.

You.

You sing beautifully.

But I grew up in.

In Ottawa, Canada.

Yeah.

And it's Anglicanism up there, and it's much more similar to the British choral tradition.

So it was actually my.

My.

My first paying gig was to sing in a choir.

I was probably 11 or 12.

I joined the.

The choir down the street.

Got paid like 100 bucks a month.

Had a little medal to match my status in the group.

And.

And we wore, you know, gowns with the cassocks and.

And we did a lot of singing.

I. I did.

I learned a lot of, like, you know, Latin, French, Middle English music that I would sing as a boy, so prepubescent boy.

And that was really how it got started.

So I, I kind of knew I had that in me, but I definitely lost it when I.

When I hit puberty.

And then I refound it.

So.

Wow.

So it was the pain of COVID and isolation being, Being isolated and you were just hanging out around the house with like a guitar or something.

And then.

Yeah.

And I was just like that, yeah, I'm gonna do this song like on Capo 6 or something, which I never used to do.

And I was like.

And this whole other thing came out and I thought, well, that's, that's kind of cool.

What's cool?

And you, and you.

So it's like.

So when we come see you perform, it's like a cathartic release for you.

I've been told that.

Yeah, I, I've been told that.

Yeah.

By people that, that when I sing in that range.

Yeah.

They're like, oh, your.

Your whole body is in it.

You're really opening up.

Well, I want to get a little bit more into the MC Taylor and his stuff.

But you went to a shaman.

Did I read to help direct you in this new in.

In only hoping, basically.

Would you tell me that story?

Sure.

Yeah.

I was, I, I've struggled with anxiety and self worth issues and you know, just a sort of imposter syndrome for quite some time.

It was more acute back then.

This is a few years ago.

And I was in therapy.

That was kind of helping, but I wasn't.

I wasn't really getting to the.

To the core of what I was dealing with.

And so I wound up looking for some alternative therapeutic help.

And I, I found this female shaman and I, I had one session with her and this was around the time that I had realized, okay, I, I want to make another album.

I, I had this vision board idea of, okay, his golden messenger.

But I think, don't think that's, you know, realistic or whatever.

But.

Yeah, not to mention he's in North Carolina and you're all the way up in Ottawa, which is like literally two worlds away.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I, I was living in Montreal at, at, at the time I, I'd moved there for school, but it's two hours from Ottawa.

Not to get into the weeds, but it's far.

And I couldn't picture what his world was like, but I was, I was so.

I was in this sort of pit of despair, I guess you could say.

And.

Cause I didn't know what to do next.

I had no confidence.

I had no idea really how to move forward creatively.

And this shaman woman who I'm indebted to over the phone, keep in mind that like we're, we're talking over the phone.

I'm sitting at My.

At my kitchen counter.

No sweat lodge.

No sweat lodge.

No psychedelics.

I. I felt psychedelic because I had.

I was.

I was shaking with fear.

I was crying.

There were tears just streaming down.

And like, I. I was trying to say, like, I'm just so lost.

I don't.

I need some guidance.

And she was like, okay, I'm picking up on the fact that you're working on some music right now, aren't you?

And I was like, yeah, yeah, I am.

Because I. I had been working on some demos and, you know, keep in mind, I'm in Montreal.

And she's like, you're gonna.

You're gonna work with somebody you've.

You've never met before.

And on that.

This music that you're working on, it's going to be kind of grand.

And the music that you make with this person is going to change your life dramatically.

And so fast forward a year, a year and a half, and I've got.

Well, I've made only hoping with MC Taylor in Durham, with the rhythm section of Bonnie Light Horseman and a bunch of other great collaborators.

Josh.

I was going to get to all that.

Al.

Spoiling it, because the.

The shaman accurately predicted everything.

Yeah, predicted it.

And I'm.

I'm in Nashville now on a.

You know, so it's really dramatically changed my life when I.

When I hadn't heard the full story.

So.

Thank you for sharing that.

That's incredible.

But I. I had seen a little bit of it, and the.

One of the songs I love by MC is I Need a Teacher.

Oh, me too.

Yeah.

And I thought there's some kind of cosmic intersection with that song and your story.

There is.

There is.

Yeah.

I love that, Ben.

And, you know, of course, he was doing that thinking about the public school teachers of his area.

Right.

There's a cosmic connection behind that.

And I get chills hearing your story.

And I just think about the power of music and Americana and the outright desire to help your fellow musicians and being able to tell that story so personally and vulnerably like you did behind the Music helps.

Helps everybody.

Cool.

Cool.

Yeah.

I love that.

The collaboration.

You use the word grand.

The shaman told you this album's going to be grand, and you kind of gave us a little spoiler with Bonnie Light Horseman.

But how did MC take this to where this album, only hoping where.

Where it is now.

How did he bring in them and kind of guide you?

He was your musical shaman during Only Hope.

And how about that?

That was a good correlation.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nobody better to Be musical.

Sh.

Shaman, I must say.

Shaman.

Tell me how he made this grand.

By bringing in some folks.

My guru, as I call him sometimes mc.

Yeah, he just.

He just is so aware, so musical, and has a great understanding of how to make the best out of what's around.

And I really think it was like a sort of.

It was like a cosmic coincidence really.

By some miracle, the J.T.

bates and Cameron Ralston were both available kind of last minute to record with us.

So not only does MC have the great vision and the great understanding of like, musicality, and he.

He.

He actually, he told me on the phone.

He was like, how.

But by some miracle, JT and Cam are available.

So what do you think?

And I said, let's do it.

No, mc, I just will have to go with that group.

I'm rolling alone on this one.

I think I can play drums on this one.

Yeah, Zach can play drums, but, you know, that's amazing.

That was another sort of cosmic event in the whole chain.

And then once we got all together, it was pretty intuitive.

Obviously, they're such great musicians that.

Yeah.

That they really picked up the tunes very quickly.

And then MC being the sort of guide and, you know, Shaman Guru was.

Was able to just bring it all together.

So.

Yeah.

What was the one piece of advice that he gave that really.

You're like, you know what?

That's the one thing MC told me that I'll never forget.

I'll cherish.

Oh, so many things.

Geez, you're putting me on the spot on her job.

That's your.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're curious.

We can't stop.

Yeah, we're just.

We can't.

We really can't.

One thing that stands out is.

Well, two things really stand out.

I think the first was like, groove in music is super important.

And he.

He really helps me, help me on that record, understand how to bring deeper groove into my own music.

He said other things like, you know, nice guys don't finish last.

I. I don't believe that.

You know, and he.

That's hilarious.

He also said, like, what's that?

That's just really funny, funny advice.

I love that.

Nice.

Yeah, so do I. I'm gonna bring

that one to my great.

He.

He also said things like, you know, it's important to just keep making records.

Like, don't.

Don't take too long.

Don't take too long on.

On things like make something and put it out and.

And get into the cadence of.

Of making and putting out faster than might feel comfortable.

So that's Another it means in terms of like production.

He's saying that you mean.

Or what do you mean by.

Well, as we, as we were working on it, you know, like there's.

It.

It didn't.

Didn't get mixed that quickly because I didn't.

I just, I made like multiple trips to, to Durham.

So it, it took a bit of time to make just because of the distance.

So yeah, one of the things that he just said was like if you can try to.

Try to make a record in a shorter space of time so that you have there's like really concise energy and focus in it and move on.

You know what, the first thing you said that he told you was about groove.

How do, how do you describe like in a sense or to what is groove and who does it best?

So like if we're like hey, if I like for our listeners, if Al's going to like, here's like if you look up Groove Al's version in the dictionary, what band or musician appears there?

Oh, I love that.

Well, I really like the groove on like Heart of Gold or Old man, there's a really deep sort of sway in there that's happening.

And yeah, I mean it's a pretty broad.

It's a pretty broad topic.

But yeah, I would say probably like Harvest is a record with Harvest with some great.

Yeah.

Merrill Bones got that.

That bop at a bop.

Yeah.

Is that your groove song or you were.

I mean multiple.

Right.

The one with Aaron Ray's Got the groove, would you say?

Or what the.

Yeah.

Who you direct our listeners to go listen to like, hey, this is doing the groove.

Mar Is, is the groove.

Yeah, yeah.

And that comes from a totally psychedelic place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love the, the this album.

It's like every song is a journey and it's the perfect road trip album for our listeners.

If you are going on a 60 minute drive from wherever to wherever, put this album out.

It'll take you away start to finish.

Do not hit that skip button one damn time.

But it'll just kind of find you.

Yes, I will find.

But what.

Whose idea was it to kind of have the songs roll in to the other ones?

I effing love that part about this album is that there's no silence.

It's just.

Yeah, yeah.

Whose idea is that and what's the thought behind that?

Well, let me, let me tell you.

So I wanted to mix the record in well with Nicholas Barons who has a studio out in Joshua Tree.

And so once we had finished tracking, we made a plan MC and I.

To go out to.

To work with.

With Nicholas.

And as we were out there, yeah, it just became clear that the songs had a certain flow and it happened very quickly, actually.

And excuse me, what wound up happening is that we would.

We would mix all day, take these all little breaks for food or for some fresh air.

And one particular day, towards the end, MC and I went for a little jaunt down, down the way to sit on a rock and like, look out at.

At the horizon.

And we didn't realize it at first, but there was this.

This mountain lion that was like right beside us and came up right close to us as we were making our way to the rock.

And it must have stood there for like a minute and I filmed it and stuff and it's.

It was a very, like, whoa, we're.

We're being visited by a pretty rare desert.

Yeah, yeah.

And then pretty much right after that, Nicholas and MC just sequenced the record like within 20.

Like, it was so quick.

They were just like, this one and then this one and then this one and then that one.

Like the story told itself.

Love that.

So, yeah.

And this is why we all want to hang out with Al and mc.

Yeah, they're making great music.

They're getting visited by spirit animals.

Yeah, that's what it was.

And that's what it was.

Mountain lions.

And those of you are like, what's a mountain like?

No, mountain lions are incredibly rare.

Yes.

They are very skittish and they are terrified of humans.

Yes.

So the fact that you had that experience.

Yes.

And this, this is super psychedelic.

Yes.

Karma, God, wisdom, shaman Anglican.

Yes.

It's like spirit moves you stuff.

Yes, it is.

And I'm happy that you mentioned the spirit animal because.

Yeah, that's.

That's what the.

That's what it felt like.

Yeah.

And now you always have like.

Like if you're in a group event and they ask you like the.

Everybody's like, well, let's do an icebreaker, buddy.

What's your spirit animal?

And you're like, I got this one.

Yeah.

Al's got it taken care of.

Let me tell you about this one time.

Let me tell you, it's.

I put the.

I put the spirit animal on the vinyl cover.

So just because I. I thought it was so, so special.

And there are other little.

Thank you for making that connection.

Yeah, it's.

It's really important to me.

I mean, it just felt like, wow, this is the right thing to be doing at the right time with the right people.

I am in the channel, so Folks that see the vinyl will.

Will see that there are little images like in the logo and yeah, one of them is a mountain lion.

There's a few others in there to explore.

It's all the details, betting.

I mean there are some albums that I think are just really going to hit high levels on vinyl and with your voice and that album, that is going to be a vital jewel, my friend.

Thank you.

I mean, man.

Hey there.

This has been.

If you care about songwriting, if you care about the stories behind the songs, and if you believe that music can actually change someone's life, then this show, Americana Curious is for you.

Every week we sit down with artists who aren't just making records.

They're wrestling with mortality, identity, faith, doubt, groove and what it brings means to live fully.

Subscribe now and share it with a friend.

I. I've got a little bit of different direction to take it.

I understand you previously were like after years.

So your first job was being a singer at church.

Yeah.

Your second job was copywriter.

Oh, that was my fourth.

That was my fourth job.

For people like, what's a copywriter?

You use words to sell.

Right.

That's the idea.

Right.

You think about the.

In person who could buy it and you want to sell a product or service.

Right.

And.

And some people in the sales world say that, hey, that's the million dollar skill is being a great copywriter.

I am curious, kind of curious how.

What, like, what can songwriters and listen like songwriters, musicians learn about writing music from copywriting?

And I'm also curious in music, who do you think?

Like, like can you listen to a song and be like some pretty good copywriting, like, you know, or like can you like who does it best from that standpoint?

Well, I would say that it.

What helped me most about writing as a job was that I got into the habit of just being creative and producing.

Producing material and kind of getting to the point.

So yeah, I, I thought at the time there would be more crossover between copywriting and songwriting, but I don't really see the connection at the moment.

Yeah, it, it was, it was a very.

It was a very convenient way for me to stay home and work from home and make some money so that I could focus on songwriting after.

Yeah.

But it wasn't, it didn't really cross over much.

And yeah, I think great songwriters could, would and you know, could be and are great salesmen of all kinds of things.

Oh yeah.

You know, but I think it's.

It comes from a different part of the brain.

Well, Al, I want to Just, Just say something about Zach on this.

Yeah, we.

We've interviewed probably like 60 or 70 artists and they're wonderful, literally wonderful musicians.

But a lot of them do have a hard time, like finding their audience, communicating, getting it out there, and like packaging their music in a way to the people that need to hear it.

And that's one of the reasons or listeners too.

That's what we're trying to do on this.

Right.

We're trying to convey the value that we hear in artists like yourself to our listeners, to grow your audience and show the music that we love.

Put your copyright hat on for a second.

What can Zach and I do to.

To help.

Yes.

Get this.

Because we know that music's great.

Like your music more.

The world literally will be.

People need to hear it.

Yes.

That's a weird music.

They hear your album, they'll be better.

What do we do?

I don't think you guys need my advice.

You guys are doing great.

We want it though.

Or you can speak hypothetically.

You're gonna have to hurt feelings.

No, I, I think, I think what's important is doing what, what you guys are doing.

Having the right, the right mission, like a, A focused goal is.

That's all it is.

That.

That's all it takes.

Copywriting comes way down the line and it's, it's, it's only supportive of the overarching ambition, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

To Ben's point.

I'm in a hotel right now in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I'm normal.

I'm from Minneapolis, Al.

But I'm down here from his accent

for one of the best marketer.

I mean, BJ Barham of American Aquarium.

I'm here for his three day event.

He's one of the guys that does everything independent.

But so he has found his group and it's.

I think it's so important to stay independent like you, like you do as well.

Yeah.

And.

But it's, it's hard to find.

I don't know how sometimes I'm baffled

on how BJ, he does 300 shows over 300 shows a year.

And I don't, I don't know how he balances that with life, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

I think, I think any sort of creative pursuit takes a lot of dedication.

Yeah.

But once you get in the, in the swing of it, it gets easier.

Yeah.

And you can tell.

I mean, you're dedicated.

These, these songs are very special.

But you're dealing with heavy topics, my man.

I mean, mortality comes up quite a Bit.

So how do you deal with that on this, this album?

Yeah.

What's going on, Al?

Yeah, well, you know, I, I'm a very light person and I'm sort of.

I'm.

I'm kind of quirky and, and, and naive and like optimistic in my day to day life.

And I think that's really what kind of makes.

Makes my personality what it is.

But then I, I do, I do find in songwriting that I, I like, I have to confront some of these bigger, bigger questions.

And I mean, some of the songs, like if you're talking about mortality, I

mean, I was thinking Father Time.

Yeah, yeah.

That song spilled out of me after my friend's father passed away, suddenly in his sleep.

It was, it was totally, totally unexpected.

He was, he was relatively young, still healthy.

So.

Yeah, I think I like to think about albums as compilations of what the artist has been through in the.

The period of time that the album was made.

So, yeah, that's one of the things that I went through and.

During that time.

Yeah, during that time.

And so that song came out and yeah, I've also.

What I like about Father Time for me, as, as a, as a song is that it reminds me, like, to not take life too seriously and just don't, don't be.

Don't let the reality of our eventual passing stop you from engaging in joy right now.

Engaging in, in a life that you want to build for yourself now.

Like, I definitely spent many, many years sort of on the sidelines of life, sort of observing it and timidly waiting for, for.

For it to come to a conclusion or something.

I, I wasn't, I wasn't able as a younger person to, to really harness the complexity of life and just say, this is what I want to do.

Like, so that was a song that I wrote and I felt like, okay, it's a good reminder for me to just go out, enjoy life.

Every day is a gift and youth is a gift as well.

So love that.

Forever.

I've heard it said I've heard it again and again.

Death don't scare me Death that don't Scary don't scare me no more.

Another topic you've talked about that's on the heavier side.

So for all, this is the heavy

part of the episode.

Yeah, this is getting, it's getting heavy.

Prison of masculinity.

The prison.

And you mentioned early on about this piece, my question on that is where I guess describe life before you found your, your new album versus now in terms of do you feel like.

And I'm thinking of masculinity being like, hey, being a guy, we don't do certain things, we don't act certain ways, we don't do certain things.

And you mentioned sort of like, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but like this album seems a bit transformational.

Yes, absolutely.

That's.

And that's the point of the record.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

And so I guess what's the, what's.

Are you still in the prison of masculinity?

And I'm assuming you, you felt imprisoned by it maybe, and maybe now you're not.

And what's your hope for the listeners like Zach and I when we hear this is like, is this sort of like a mission of the album to break society?

Of this?

Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

At, at the core of my story is that when I was 18, 17, 18 19, I developed like severe athletic anorexia to the point that I couldn't really do my like, I couldn't really get good grades, I didn't really have a girlfriend, I didn't, didn't engage in life in a serious way.

I was, I was completely subsumed in this obsessive need to like run at least an hour a day, but it was more.

Eat under a thousand calories, do it every single day at minimum, if not more.

And yeah, it kind of, it's painful still to realize that I spent three or four years of my like, of my life just like with that being the most important thing.

And so yeah, I think part of the reasons why I make art is to help other people break free of some of their own obsessive tendencies.

And just hopefully if my music can convey some level of like calm or release, then it might help them.

But for me, yeah, it, it, my life before this record was, you know, going back about 10, 10, 15 years, was trying to dig myself out of this hole that I, I, I dug for myself and it took a long time.

Like eating disorders amongst men are not talked about and I didn't talk about them, about mine.

And I, you know, so I just lived with it and I was like, this is my secret and it's, it totally me up and it.

And I still live with it, but I'm a lot lighter now and I'm a lot less self loathing and a lot less critical and scared.

So yeah, yeah, it was, it was a really big part of my young life.

Wow.

Well, thank you for sharing that.

Thank you for sharing that.

I just want to say something about this music, man.

It's Amazing that your art can heal.

You can be healed through your own art.

Yeah.

And through your courage to create this and share right now.

You know, you're making an opportunity for others to heal themselves by hearing this.

Yeah, that's.

That's what I.

That's what I like to think.

Yeah.

Can I.

Can I go to one specific lyric?

I mean, love is not a thing you find.

It's something you feel on that song.

Only hoping.

I effing love that song.

I mean, that's the song that I heard.

And I went, who the hell is this guy?

And what is this song?

And then I needed to know.

I needed to talk to Al.

So there is.

You're only hoping.

But where did that lyric come from?

Well, I mean, it's about self love, isn't it?

I mean, I, like, we're all.

And I get emotional about this, but we're all good enough as we are.

We don't need to find anything out in the world.

Anything more than who we are as we are now.

And it took me a long time to be okay with that, and I still have a hard time with that.

And.

Yeah.

So that's where it.

It comes from.

Wow.

Thank you for that.

And it's so.

And let me just say it.

That story contrasts so differently.

This morning when my daughter asked me to get Pitbull tickets, I was like, yeah.

Oh, my.

And then even scarier, the fact that I actually know so many of his songs.

When I started going through it, I'm like, y', all, if you know Pitbull, you need to know how delivery.

That should be the tagline of this episode.

Okay.

If it's a little copywriting.

So next.

Next thing, I just got to give you the virtual high five.

You went viral for which song?

There's multiple.

There was almost 2 million views on TikTok.

I think Bridge back to me.

Yeah.

Okay.

And just going with the overalls with no shirt.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

I was like, dang.

Yes, dude.

And making that ethereal voice is just such a cool.

It's Americana moment.

Yeah.

I would say I could feel that it was.

It was a clash.

Not a clash.

It was a meeting of two different worlds.

Because I think.

Or you just were like, hey, I just feel like I'm gonna wear this into the studio.

Someone's gonna video me.

I will say what's gonna happen.

I. I was shopping for no shirt.

Yeah.

Money on a shirt.

I've been trying to take my shirt off for years.

No, it's just so, so hot.

In Nashville in August.

That.

That must be why you're our second guest.

That Darren Bradbury never wears a shirt.

No.

Only overalls, too.

And he's a natural, so maybe I've gone viral, though.

We didn't ask him about it between July and September.

It's very hard to wear a shirt in this town.

Yeah.

But, yeah, that's.

I. Yeah, see, yeah, we brought it

around and lightened it up at the end here.

I like that.

Yeah, we get heavy in the middle.

Yeah, that was heavy in the middle.

Well, man, it has been a dandy of an interview.

Yes.

So at the end here, we can talk about the Al Nichol legacy.

We can talk about, like, what's come in the near future, who you want to play with, like, what are.

Where are you currently, your hopes and dreams right now?

In Durham doing maybe.

I just got back from Durham.

Yeah.

I'm working on something new.

Yeah.

I'm.

I feel really settled.

Really happy to be in Nashville, really excited about the future.

And.

Yeah, I don't know.

I.

It's.

It.

It feels like I'm.

I've.

I've got my feet on the ground.

I've got, like, a bit of a plan and some vision for what's possible, and that feels really good for me, coming from where I've come from, where things have been sort of uncertain, kind of always moving, shaken.

It feels like this is kind of a moment for me to settle in and keep on making music.

Yeah.

I don't really have much else to say.

Who are you listening to these days or.

Or who are artists that you're hoping people will find was inspiring.

Yeah.

And discover.

Well, I've been listening to Glenn Campbell, which is.

He's not a very.

He's a pretty known artist.

Bringing it back.

Yeah.

Bring it up.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

He's a player.

He did.

Yeah, he did, yeah.

Well, let me think.

Oh, yeah, let me think.

Been listening to EMT Rhodes, and he's great.

He's a really.

Emmett Rhodes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Emmett Rhodes.

Yeah, He's.

He's.

He's kind of Paul McCartney, but, you know, still rooted in the traditions of acoustic kind of folky music.

Yeah.

I don't know.

That's.

I've not been listening to too much, to be honest.

I've been focusing just on making my own demos and, you know, like, just.

Yeah.

Just trying to stay focused.

Yeah.

Yes, everybody, y'.

All, if you're not curious about Al's music, then I don't know what's.

You.

I think.

I mean, you are in for a treat.

Your job, after, of course, subscribing to our show, is to immediately go and listen to Al's music.

Put it on, Zach.

You guys are two kinds, but yeah, I mean, how lucky am I to be on a platform like yours that allows me to reach people who will like my music?

I think, yeah, your audience is very well informed, of course.

Yeah.

So now you're the shaman.

Tell me, is your Americana shaman.

Americana shaman.

Americana shaman.

Merch shaman.

Yeah.

All right.

All right.

Stay curious, y'.

All.

Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.

Subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.

I'm Ben Fanning, and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.

Until next time, stay Americana Curious.