Award winning blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter, Stevie Nimmo, will release his second solo album “Sky Won’t Fall” via Manhaton Records on March 4th, 2016. One half of the Nimmo Brothers, this will be Stevie’s second solo release since 2010’s debut acoustic album, “The Wynds of Life”.
To celebrate the release, Stevie will embark on a co-headline tour with The Ben Poole Band throughout the months of February, March, April and May. The tour will kick off on Thursday 4th February at the Bootlegger’s Bar in Kendal. Tickets go on sale Thursday 14th January.
Stevie’s new album starts with the flick of a switch. Then a squeal of feedback. Finally, the mother of all blues-rock riffs rises from the white noise, and “Sky Won’t Fall” races out of the blocks in style. If the prospect of a new solo album from this titan of the British music scene didn’t already have your undivided attention, then thirty seconds into “Chains of Hope”, Stevie Nimmo has you by the lapels.
Released by Manhaton Records (the same label that releases King King’s albums), it’s a curious realisation that “Sky Won’t Fall” is only the second solo album of Stevie’s decorated career. In mitigation, the Glaswegian bandleader has been busy: since the late-’90s, there has been the small matter of helming legendary blues-rock outfit The Nimmo Brothers alongside younger sibling Alan. Indeed, “Sky Won’t Fall” was recorded in just ten days snatched between Nimmo tour commitments. “It was a bit frantic”, admits Stevie. “But even with all the madness, the project went very well”.
That the sessions at Nottingham’s Superfly Studios ran so smooth is testament to the near-telepathic chemistry between Stevie and his crack core band. On drums, Craig Bacon drives the material with power and nuance. On bass, Mat Beable provides the thrilling counterpoint to Stevie’s soulful guitar work and evocative vocals. Flanked by engineer Andy Banfield, Stevie is also joined on production by King King’s drummer Wayne Proctor, to oversee a mix that bursts from the speakers. “Wayne was the man in charge of getting my ideas out of my head and down on a recording”, says Stevie. “Not an easy task, but he nailed it”.
As ever, it was Stevie himself who supplied the raw material, arriving at Superfly Studios with ten of the best songs of his career burning a hole in his pocket. In 2016, the Glaswegian has a deserved reputation as a songwriter of eclectic brilliance: stick a pin in his back catalogue and you’ll find anything from the Nimmo Brothers’ high-octane blues-rock to the Americana stylings of 2010’s solo debut, “The Wynds of Life”. No wonder that Maverick Magazine dubbed him “one of Scotland’s finest singer-songwriters”.
“Sky Won’t Fall”, Stevie’s muse proves as light on its feet as we’ve come to expect, with a track listing that throws endless curveballs and slips every pigeonhole you try to place around it. “I wanted "Sky Won’t Fall" to have as broad a musical spectrum as possible”, he reasons, “to showcase a bit of every side of my song writing. So there’s rock, blues, country, pop-rock and even acoustic. It really is a good representation of what I do”.
Most assuredly, there’s plenty here to satisfy the hardened blues-rockers hanging off Stevie’s security barrier, with “Chains of Hope” fusing its overdriven punch with a pop at the tech revolution, “Roll the Dice Again” riding on a trouser-flapping riff, and “Still Hungry” offering a Zep-worthy guitar lick that smokes the timid radio-friendly rock of the modern mainstream. With these cuts chalked onto his solo set lists, it’s a safe bet that Stevie’s tour dates throughout 2016 will have the ammunition to blow the doors off.
And yet, such jaw-breaking rockers means it’s even more poignant when “Sky Won’t Fall” shifts gears to its most reflective moments. Take “Running on Back to You”: a tour bus love-letter penned to Stevie’s beloved family and set to neck-tingling mid-tempo blues. “Lovin’ Might Do Us Good” is a musical sunbeam to punch through the blackest storm cloud, and “Change” fuses funk-inflected wah guitar with an eloquent discourse on following your own path. The sun-kissed refrain of “Walk the Thin Line”, meanwhile, is an early contender for earworm of the year. “The first thing that came to me on this song was the melody”, remembers Stevie. “Then I wrote the rest of the song around it”.
For both the hardcore fans who have cheered him to the rafters since early years in Glasgow, and the first-timers keen to find out what the buzz is about, “Sky Won’t Fall” represents a bar-raising release from Stevie Nimmo. To play this album is hear one of the nation’s most questing talents at full stretch – and to know him a little better by the end. “If someone hasn’t got any of my albums”, notes Stevie, “then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with this one. With" Sky Won’t Fall", I think a new listener could easily work out who I am”.
Tracklist:
01. Chains of Hope
02. Roll the Dice Again
03. Change
04. Running on Back to You
05. Walk The Thin Line
06. I’ll Pray For You
07. Still Hungry
08. Gambler’s Roll
09. Lovin’ Might Do Us Good
10. Love You More Tonight
Stevie Nimmo and Ben Poole UK Tour Dates 2016:
Feb 04: Kendal Bootleggers Bar
Feb 05: York Fibbers
Feb 07: Leicester The Musician
Feb 11: London The Half Moon
Feb 12: Darlington The Forum Music Centre
Feb 13: Bingley Arts Centre
Feb 14: Worthing Southern Pier Pavilion
Mar 17: Shoreham-by-Sea Ropetackle Arts
Mar 18: Baron Upon Humber Ropery Hall
Mar 19: Durham Mickleton R'N'B
Mar 20: Kinross The Green Hotel
Mar 21: Oxford The Haven
Apr 29: Sutton Boom Boom Club
Apr 30: Selby Arts Centre
May 04: Newcastle The Cluny
May 05: Stirling The Tollbooth
May 06: Glasgow Oran Mor
May 07: Aberdeen Cafe Drummond
May 11: Cheltenham Vonnies
May 12: Chislehurst Beaverwood Club
May 13: Southampton Talking Heads
May 14: Hartlepool Supporters Club
May 19: Farnham The Maltings
May 20: Newbury Arlington Sports Centre
May 21: Derby The Flowerpot
May 22: Sheffield Greystones
Weblinks:
www.stevienimmo.com
www.benpooleband.com
To celebrate the release, Stevie will embark on a co-headline tour with The Ben Poole Band throughout the months of February, March, April and May. The tour will kick off on Thursday 4th February at the Bootlegger’s Bar in Kendal. Tickets go on sale Thursday 14th January.
Stevie’s new album starts with the flick of a switch. Then a squeal of feedback. Finally, the mother of all blues-rock riffs rises from the white noise, and “Sky Won’t Fall” races out of the blocks in style. If the prospect of a new solo album from this titan of the British music scene didn’t already have your undivided attention, then thirty seconds into “Chains of Hope”, Stevie Nimmo has you by the lapels.
Released by Manhaton Records (the same label that releases King King’s albums), it’s a curious realisation that “Sky Won’t Fall” is only the second solo album of Stevie’s decorated career. In mitigation, the Glaswegian bandleader has been busy: since the late-’90s, there has been the small matter of helming legendary blues-rock outfit The Nimmo Brothers alongside younger sibling Alan. Indeed, “Sky Won’t Fall” was recorded in just ten days snatched between Nimmo tour commitments. “It was a bit frantic”, admits Stevie. “But even with all the madness, the project went very well”.
That the sessions at Nottingham’s Superfly Studios ran so smooth is testament to the near-telepathic chemistry between Stevie and his crack core band. On drums, Craig Bacon drives the material with power and nuance. On bass, Mat Beable provides the thrilling counterpoint to Stevie’s soulful guitar work and evocative vocals. Flanked by engineer Andy Banfield, Stevie is also joined on production by King King’s drummer Wayne Proctor, to oversee a mix that bursts from the speakers. “Wayne was the man in charge of getting my ideas out of my head and down on a recording”, says Stevie. “Not an easy task, but he nailed it”.
As ever, it was Stevie himself who supplied the raw material, arriving at Superfly Studios with ten of the best songs of his career burning a hole in his pocket. In 2016, the Glaswegian has a deserved reputation as a songwriter of eclectic brilliance: stick a pin in his back catalogue and you’ll find anything from the Nimmo Brothers’ high-octane blues-rock to the Americana stylings of 2010’s solo debut, “The Wynds of Life”. No wonder that Maverick Magazine dubbed him “one of Scotland’s finest singer-songwriters”.
“Sky Won’t Fall”, Stevie’s muse proves as light on its feet as we’ve come to expect, with a track listing that throws endless curveballs and slips every pigeonhole you try to place around it. “I wanted "Sky Won’t Fall" to have as broad a musical spectrum as possible”, he reasons, “to showcase a bit of every side of my song writing. So there’s rock, blues, country, pop-rock and even acoustic. It really is a good representation of what I do”.
Most assuredly, there’s plenty here to satisfy the hardened blues-rockers hanging off Stevie’s security barrier, with “Chains of Hope” fusing its overdriven punch with a pop at the tech revolution, “Roll the Dice Again” riding on a trouser-flapping riff, and “Still Hungry” offering a Zep-worthy guitar lick that smokes the timid radio-friendly rock of the modern mainstream. With these cuts chalked onto his solo set lists, it’s a safe bet that Stevie’s tour dates throughout 2016 will have the ammunition to blow the doors off.
And yet, such jaw-breaking rockers means it’s even more poignant when “Sky Won’t Fall” shifts gears to its most reflective moments. Take “Running on Back to You”: a tour bus love-letter penned to Stevie’s beloved family and set to neck-tingling mid-tempo blues. “Lovin’ Might Do Us Good” is a musical sunbeam to punch through the blackest storm cloud, and “Change” fuses funk-inflected wah guitar with an eloquent discourse on following your own path. The sun-kissed refrain of “Walk the Thin Line”, meanwhile, is an early contender for earworm of the year. “The first thing that came to me on this song was the melody”, remembers Stevie. “Then I wrote the rest of the song around it”.
For both the hardcore fans who have cheered him to the rafters since early years in Glasgow, and the first-timers keen to find out what the buzz is about, “Sky Won’t Fall” represents a bar-raising release from Stevie Nimmo. To play this album is hear one of the nation’s most questing talents at full stretch – and to know him a little better by the end. “If someone hasn’t got any of my albums”, notes Stevie, “then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with this one. With" Sky Won’t Fall", I think a new listener could easily work out who I am”.
Tracklist:
01. Chains of Hope
02. Roll the Dice Again
03. Change
04. Running on Back to You
05. Walk The Thin Line
06. I’ll Pray For You
07. Still Hungry
08. Gambler’s Roll
09. Lovin’ Might Do Us Good
10. Love You More Tonight
Stevie Nimmo and Ben Poole UK Tour Dates 2016:
Feb 04: Kendal Bootleggers Bar
Feb 05: York Fibbers
Feb 07: Leicester The Musician
Feb 11: London The Half Moon
Feb 12: Darlington The Forum Music Centre
Feb 13: Bingley Arts Centre
Feb 14: Worthing Southern Pier Pavilion
Mar 17: Shoreham-by-Sea Ropetackle Arts
Mar 18: Baron Upon Humber Ropery Hall
Mar 19: Durham Mickleton R'N'B
Mar 20: Kinross The Green Hotel
Mar 21: Oxford The Haven
Apr 29: Sutton Boom Boom Club
Apr 30: Selby Arts Centre
May 04: Newcastle The Cluny
May 05: Stirling The Tollbooth
May 06: Glasgow Oran Mor
May 07: Aberdeen Cafe Drummond
May 11: Cheltenham Vonnies
May 12: Chislehurst Beaverwood Club
May 13: Southampton Talking Heads
May 14: Hartlepool Supporters Club
May 19: Farnham The Maltings
May 20: Newbury Arlington Sports Centre
May 21: Derby The Flowerpot
May 22: Sheffield Greystones
Weblinks:
www.stevienimmo.com
www.benpooleband.com