The new album FROm blind Pig RecORds is available nOw aT FineR RecORd sTORes and digiTal OuTleTs eveRywheRe“Nixon’s deep-blues vocal delivery and Andy’s stinging guitar chops are fabulous together throughout…They will rock your world.” – RobeRt K. oeRmann / music Row

blind Pig RecoRds, a division of Whole Hog Inc., P.O. Box 2344, San Francisco, CA 94126 www.blindpigrecords.com Write or email us for a free catalog of other fine releases. BPCD 5168 © 2015 BLIND PIG RECORDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PHOTO BY RON MODRA. DESIGN BY AL BRANDTNER.

Guitarist “Andy T” Talamantez arrived in Nashville

from Southern California in 2008 and teamed up with

local blues and R&B legend vocalist/guitarist James

“Nick” Nixon in 2011. After meeting Nick and watch-

ing him perform, Andy knew that they would make an

unstoppable combination. As Ted Drozdowski of the

Nashville Scene put it, “When Andy first heard Nick,

he knew he’d found his foil for the group he envisioned

– an outfit that could swing effortlessly between West

Coast jump blues stompers, hardcore Chicago and

Texas string-fests, and Louisiana swamp grooves.”

Andy T’s jazz-tinged guitar style is influenced by

T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Magic Sam, and Albert Col-

lins among others, yet it remains his own. He was

born and raised in Southern California and was al-

ways interested in guitar. He worked for twenty-three

years as a manufacturing engineer in the aerospace

industry but during that entire time he never stopped

performing in local bands. In 1997 he quit his day

job to join and tour with Smokey Wilson’s band. That

lasted for two years, after which he played in Guitar

Shorty’s band for a period of five years. During that

time he toured internationally and performed with a

long list of major blues artists around the country,

learning how to back up a vocalist with economy and

perfection as he honed his own playing style.

The velvet-voiced Nixon, whose singing recalls

Jimmy Witherspoon and Billy Eckstine, was born and

raised in Nashville, where got his first taste of sing-

ing through the gospel tunes he learned every Sunday

in church. In high school, he sang opera. The choir

director, a famous opera singer, “found out I had this

voice and he had me singing opera. It was kind of

put on me and I really didn’t like that style of music,”

Nixon says. “But I did it and the hardest thing I’ve ever

had to do was to un-do that opera-style singing when

I started in with rock-n-roll and the blues. But I did

learn a lot of voice control (singing opera) that I still

use now. The clarity of opera is something that I still

use, too, but I just put in more gravel, a little more dirt

with it when I’m singing the blues.”

Nixon quickly went on to become an important

part of the musical mix in Nashville and something

of an institution in the Music City. In the early 60’s he

was the lead singer for the popular group King James

and The Sceptres–one of Music City’s first integrated

bands. They would play co-bills with the likes of Lazy

Lester, Rufus Thomas, and Cootie Stark, to name a

few. Nick was also a long-time member of The New

Imperials, a soul group with a forty-five year history,

performing with many of the top blues and R&B art-

ists in the world.

Nixon was part of the thriving Jefferson Street

blues scene of the 60’s, and is a key figure in the

reviving Nashville blues scene today. He’s performed

regularly at civic functions and even sung before

thousands at the Riverfront Park, accompanied by the

Nashville Symphony.

In the 70’s Nixon fronted a pair of successful lo-

cal groups – Past, Present & Future, which recorded

The Andy T – nick nixon BAnd

The Andy T-nick nixon BAnd, fronted by guitarist Andy T and vocalist

Nick Nixon, displays musicianship at its highest. As Blues Underground Network

said, “Simply put, Andy T and James ‘Nick’ Nixon have quickly risen to the top

of many people’s lists of Great Collaborations.” ¶ Their new release on Blind

Pig Records, Numbers Man, was produced by renowned Texas guitarist Anson

Funderburgh, and features the great Kim Wilson’s harmonica on one of the tracks.

Blind Pig RecoRds, a division of Whole Hog Inc., P.O. Box 2344, San Francisco, CA 94126 www.blindpigrecords.com Write or email us for a free catalog of other fine releases.

BPCD 5168 © 2015 BLIND PIG RECORDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PHOTO BY RON MODRA. DESIGN BY AL BRANDTNER.

for Chess Records, followed by NTS Limited, which

included Billy Cox.

Nick produced an album for gospel legends the

Fairfield Four in 1989. That same year he began the

release of a number of albums under his given name,

James Nixon. His first three releases were gospel re-

cordings – Don’t Wait Too Late, a cassette-only re-

lease, Me, Myself and the Lord in 1997, which was

named “Best Gospel Album of the Year” by Behind the

Scenes, a radio trade publication. This was followed

by the release of Stand Up in 1999.

In 2002 Nick began his career as a blues recording

artist with the release of No End To The Blues on the

Black Magic label. He followed that with Back Down South in 2005 and Heavy Load and Live In Europe

in 2010. In 2011 Nixon appeared in director Mario Van

Peebles’ film Redemption Road. His performance of

“Rising Son Blues” is on the film’s soundtrack.

But maybe even more important than all that,

Nixon has always been involved in helping to per-

petuate the blues, as a guitar teacher and mentor

to many of the city’s aspiring young players through

Nashville’s Parks and Recreation Department. This

behind-the-scenes effort even earned Nixon a Keep-

ing the Blues Alive (KBA) award from the Blues Foun-

dation in 2000.

Despite such a varied and successful career in the

music business, Nixon is still remembered by many

as a friend and sometime stage mate of the late, great

Jimi Hendrix. Nick befriended Hendrix and his pal (and

later to be Band of Gypsies member) Billy Cox when

they arrived in Nashville in the early ’60s. Says Nixon,

“I met Billy and Jimi around the same time, in Fort

Campbell, Kentucky. When they got out of the army,

they moved to Nashville and got ‘em a little room

there. You’d see Jimi just out walking the streets with

his guitar…he just loved that thing. All Jimi wanted to

do was just woodshed and play that guitar.”

To this day Nick often writes and performs with his

good friend, Cox. Says Nixon, “Billy’s a good person

to be around and really, Jimi was, too.” In fact, Nixon

recorded a single (“Over 50 Blues”) in 1995 with Cox

and his friend Scotty Moore, Elvis’ guitarist.

The Andy T-Nick Nixon Band has released two

critically acclaimed albums on the Delta Groove label,

both of which were produced by Anson Funderburgh.

Their debut CD, Drink Drank Drunk, was re-

leased in 2013. Music Row said, “Nixon’s deep-blues

vocal delivery and Andy’s stinging guitar chops are

fabulous together throughout their CD…They will

rock your world.” Elmore magazine added, “These

veterans may be new names to you but not for long.”

The album found its way onto almost everyone’s “Best

of 2013” list and was nominated for a Blues Blast

Music Award for best “New Artist Debut Release.”

The following year the band released their second

CD, Livin’ It Up, which was nominated for a Blues

Music Award as “Best Traditional Blues Album,” as

well as a Blues Blast Music Award in the same cat-

egory.

Elmore magazine said, “This band swings oh

so soulfully! Traditional blues lovers listen up – your

blues is here as fresh as ever. Nick has one of those

unmistakably killer blues voices, capable of growl-

ing and crooning within the same song. But, for the

most part their sound is very smooth, anchored by

the clean, T-Bone Walker guitar style of Andy T.”

Living Blues stated, “It all adds up to a blues-rich

yet stylistically diverse set, infused with joy and en-

riched by impeccable musicality – from beginning to

end.”

Even though he’s now in his 70s, Nixon’s voice still

has all the power and energy of a man half his age

and it’s crystal clear that this man was born to sing

the blues. Combined with Andy T’s bold, vibrant tones

and equally rooted guitar style, it makes for a uniquely

satisfying brand of soulful blues.

The blues has a history of great partnerships, and

Numbers Man offers proof positive that Andy T and

Nick Nixon belong in that select group.