Expatriate artist, singer, and songwriter Jeb Loy Nichols began making records to some "Americana" fanfare and press hype for Capitol Records back in 1997. He had a killer single on the Lovers Knot set called As the Rain, which combined reggae, folk changes in a minor key, and Nichols' lovely, dry, laid-back voice with some high lonesome slide guitars and a bubbling bassline. The label even paid for a promo-only remix of the track by dubmaster Adrian Sherwood. Trouble is, everyone was looking for Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, and Abra Moore, and anyone who sounded like a "nice" version of Townes Van Zandt (someone who had gone to college, could write a half-decent song, and could entertain the large, white, "feel good about us" types who filled yuppie folk venues). The funny thing is that Nichols left Austin so he could get away from all that macho boy's-club yuppie stuff. He went to London because of his love for reggae and "lovers rock." Nichols dropped off the Yankee radar and wasn't heard from on these shores again until 2008. He never stopped making music, though; in fact, every record he released after Lovers Knot (seven) was better than its predecessor. It's obvious as to why: Nichols is not exactly obvious. He's quiet, has a lovely but uncommon voice (a dead cross between James Taylor's and a young John Martyn's), and writes gentle, poetic songs that "paint" their stories rather than announce them. He's a genteel but unpretentious sort whose songs are so intimate you could blink and they'd go right by you. They don't assert; rather, they request that you actually listen to them.

1		My Kind
2		Days Are Mighty
3		Lay Down and Cry
4		25 Years Too Late
5		Can't Find the Words
6		Poor Little Barn
7		That's Not What She Said to Me
8		After November
9		Let's Not Fall
10		Almost
11		I Need You So

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