Nick 13- Nick 13

Nick 13 has made one of the hands down, most solid country-western albums in a very long time. Nick 13 is  the long time front man for the phsycobilly/punk outfit Tiger Army. If you are not familiar, they are a so-cal punk band with a stand-up bass and a badass rockabilly attitude. The band started in 1995 in the heyday of the so-cal punk scene and Nick 13 has just put out his first solo record. It is a country-western album. Yes it is. It is an album about losing love, being on the road and sinnin’. It is damn near impossible to listen to and not think of the great Hank Williams.
Nick 13 seems to channel Hank Williams in so many ways. He sings these songs as if they were written sixty years ago. They are earnest songs. They feel real, and sincere. There is a reason Nick 13 can channel Hank Williams. He has lived a similar life. He spent years touring the country with his band. He actually has rambled. He has seen the hardships of being a musician on the road. He has had the fun, he has felt the pain. This is a unique lifestyle, that is hard to capture.
It seems as though many country artists these days don’t really know what Hank was singing about. Hank Williams lived like a rock star. He traveled and drank and took drugs and had a good time. He broke hearts and had his heart broken.  That is what he wrote songs about, and that is what Nick 13 is writing songs about. Combined with the twang of a steel guitar and the unique country croon, he has made an incredible country-western album. These sound like songs cowboys sang on the prairie a hundred years ago.
Every song sounds distinct yet the same. Nick uses the chug-a-lug acoustic guitar that sounds like a train rolling by in the distance. The cry of the steel guitar emphasizes Nicks words. The fiddle makes even the uplifting songs sound bitter sweet. The drums tap away behind the band, blending in so well, you barely notice they are there. It is truly Nicks words that make these songs. He understands his content only the way someone who has lived the songs can. On songs like “Nashville Winter” and “Restless Moon” you know that Nick feels what he is singing. He has felt the need to ramble. He has had to escape reality and hit the road.
Even though the album has the feel of something much older than it is, it somehow still feels new. It sounds clean and bright. Throughout the album you occasionally hear the electric guitar of a man who has played modern music. Rock and roll guitar picking slips into “Gamblers Life” and an almost do wop croon falls gracefully into the love song “In the Orchard”.
These songs all stand alone as great tracks, but together they are a testament to the life of a cowboy. Once this album starts playing it is hard to pause or stop it. Every song just reinforces how good the last one was. This album is meant to be listened to as just that. An album. Nick 13 spent two years writing these songs, and crafting them into the album it is. He created an album reminiscent of days long past. Listening to this album, you want to drop your life and head out on the road. You want to get out of whatever situation you are in and ramble.