NICK CURRAN
''FIXIN' YOUR HEAD''
JUNE 6 2000
40:44
1/Women and Cadillacs/2:57
2/Boogie With My Baby
Nick Curran/3:10
3/Just Love Me Baby
Rosco Gordon/3:40
4/I Want to Love You
Nick Curran/3:07
5/Good Rockin' Man
Ray Brown / Roy Brown/4:01
6/Lonely Nights
Nick Curran/3:56
7/Loose Lip Mama
Nick Curran/2:56
8/It's My Life, Baby
Don Robey/2:36
9/She's Mine
Nick Curran/2:39
10/Straighten Up
Nick Curran/3:28
11/Do You Wanna Be My Baby?
Nick Curran/2:57
12/I'm Waiting for Your Call
Oscar Lollie/3:01
13/Get Rich Quick
Leonard Feather/2:16
Nick Curran /Guitar
Eric Matthew /Bass (Upright)
Lisa Pankratz /Drums
Jim Trimmier /Saxophone
REVIEW
by Matt Collar
Recorded on vintage equipment in single takes, Nick Curran keeps things simple and swinging on his solo debut. Having played rockabilly with Kim Lenz set Curran's retro-twang cred in stone and the long-time blues aficionado strikes out on his own with the revelatory Fixin' Your Head. With a deep, ringing voice not unlike Amos Milburn or Lloyd Price, and a wide-open T-Bone Walker guitar style, Curran utterly embodies that period of time during the late '40s and early '50s just before the blues became rock & roll. Curran's impressive mix of lesser known cover tunes and originals -- the up-tempo "She's Mine" especially -- oozes with a genuine pomade and chicken wings mentality. More studied than punk, yet grittier than most contemporary blues releases, Curran has achieved an almost unimaginable "take no prisoners" aesthetic of retro-style absoluteness and modern blues urgency.
BIOGRAPHY
by Matt Collar Comin' on like a sci-fi hybrid of T-Bone Walker, Little Richard, and Guitar Slim, guitarist/singer Nick Curran is a powerhouse performer who owes a strong debt to blues and rockabilly artists of the '50s. Originally from Portland, ME, Curran began performing in his early teens with his father's band, Mike Curran & the Tremors. At 19, while playing with local rockabilly band King Memphis, Curran met rockabilly legend Ronnie Dawson and ended up touring with him for about six months. Soon after coming off the road, he got a call to do a tour with Texas rockabilly queen Kim Lenz and eventually joined her backup band, the Jaguars.
Subsequently, Curran moved to Dallas where he quickly immersed himself in the city's vibrant blues traditions as well as the roots music scene in Austin. It was during this time that Curran toured with retro-country sensation Wayne Hancock. Citing such influences as Wynonie Harris, Otis West, Roy Brown, and many other postwar blues and rock & roll artists, Curran released his solo album debut, Fixin' Your Head, in 2000. Recording live, single takes on vintage equipment, Curran has cultivated an impressive retro '50s jump blues sound that is only enhanced by his predilection for vintage clothes and Nu Nile pomade. Nitelife Boogie followed in 2001 and further solidified Curran's reputation as one of the most authentic and exciting roots musicians of his generation.
In a move that garnered him a slightly higher profile, Curran signed with legit-blues label Blind Pig Records in 2002 and released his third album the following year. Featuring more of Curran's old-school blues and R&B, Doctor Velvet found the still twenty-something artist branching out into Delta blues, reworking the Sonics' garage rock classic "Shot Down," and performing alongside one of his musical idols, original Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. Further accolades followed in 2004 as Curran received the W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut and released his fourth album, Player!
Toward the latter stages of the tour promoting Player!, Curran parted ways with his longtime Nitelifes rhythm section of ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds bassist Preston Hubbard and drummer Damien Llanes. Ironically, Curran then joined vocalist Kim Wilson's lastest incarnation of The Fabulous Thunderbirds in time to record the band's 2005 release Painted On.
After leaving the T-Birds, Curran formed the punk-blues combo Deguello with T-Birds' bassist Ronnie James Weber and played in various side-projects before relaunching his solo career. In 2010, Curran released Reformed School Girl on Eclecto Groove Records.
''FIXIN' YOUR HEAD''
JUNE 6 2000
40:44
1/Women and Cadillacs/2:57
2/Boogie With My Baby
Nick Curran/3:10
3/Just Love Me Baby
Rosco Gordon/3:40
4/I Want to Love You
Nick Curran/3:07
5/Good Rockin' Man
Ray Brown / Roy Brown/4:01
6/Lonely Nights
Nick Curran/3:56
7/Loose Lip Mama
Nick Curran/2:56
8/It's My Life, Baby
Don Robey/2:36
9/She's Mine
Nick Curran/2:39
10/Straighten Up
Nick Curran/3:28
11/Do You Wanna Be My Baby?
Nick Curran/2:57
12/I'm Waiting for Your Call
Oscar Lollie/3:01
13/Get Rich Quick
Leonard Feather/2:16
Nick Curran /Guitar
Eric Matthew /Bass (Upright)
Lisa Pankratz /Drums
Jim Trimmier /Saxophone
REVIEW
by Matt Collar
Recorded on vintage equipment in single takes, Nick Curran keeps things simple and swinging on his solo debut. Having played rockabilly with Kim Lenz set Curran's retro-twang cred in stone and the long-time blues aficionado strikes out on his own with the revelatory Fixin' Your Head. With a deep, ringing voice not unlike Amos Milburn or Lloyd Price, and a wide-open T-Bone Walker guitar style, Curran utterly embodies that period of time during the late '40s and early '50s just before the blues became rock & roll. Curran's impressive mix of lesser known cover tunes and originals -- the up-tempo "She's Mine" especially -- oozes with a genuine pomade and chicken wings mentality. More studied than punk, yet grittier than most contemporary blues releases, Curran has achieved an almost unimaginable "take no prisoners" aesthetic of retro-style absoluteness and modern blues urgency.
BIOGRAPHY
by Matt Collar Comin' on like a sci-fi hybrid of T-Bone Walker, Little Richard, and Guitar Slim, guitarist/singer Nick Curran is a powerhouse performer who owes a strong debt to blues and rockabilly artists of the '50s. Originally from Portland, ME, Curran began performing in his early teens with his father's band, Mike Curran & the Tremors. At 19, while playing with local rockabilly band King Memphis, Curran met rockabilly legend Ronnie Dawson and ended up touring with him for about six months. Soon after coming off the road, he got a call to do a tour with Texas rockabilly queen Kim Lenz and eventually joined her backup band, the Jaguars.
Subsequently, Curran moved to Dallas where he quickly immersed himself in the city's vibrant blues traditions as well as the roots music scene in Austin. It was during this time that Curran toured with retro-country sensation Wayne Hancock. Citing such influences as Wynonie Harris, Otis West, Roy Brown, and many other postwar blues and rock & roll artists, Curran released his solo album debut, Fixin' Your Head, in 2000. Recording live, single takes on vintage equipment, Curran has cultivated an impressive retro '50s jump blues sound that is only enhanced by his predilection for vintage clothes and Nu Nile pomade. Nitelife Boogie followed in 2001 and further solidified Curran's reputation as one of the most authentic and exciting roots musicians of his generation.
In a move that garnered him a slightly higher profile, Curran signed with legit-blues label Blind Pig Records in 2002 and released his third album the following year. Featuring more of Curran's old-school blues and R&B, Doctor Velvet found the still twenty-something artist branching out into Delta blues, reworking the Sonics' garage rock classic "Shot Down," and performing alongside one of his musical idols, original Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. Further accolades followed in 2004 as Curran received the W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut and released his fourth album, Player!
Toward the latter stages of the tour promoting Player!, Curran parted ways with his longtime Nitelifes rhythm section of ex-Fabulous Thunderbirds bassist Preston Hubbard and drummer Damien Llanes. Ironically, Curran then joined vocalist Kim Wilson's lastest incarnation of The Fabulous Thunderbirds in time to record the band's 2005 release Painted On.
After leaving the T-Birds, Curran formed the punk-blues combo Deguello with T-Birds' bassist Ronnie James Weber and played in various side-projects before relaunching his solo career. In 2010, Curran released Reformed School Girl on Eclecto Groove Records.
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