The Field Guide To Jeb Loy Nichols

If I remember correctly I first heard Jeb Loy Nichols about 20 years ago when someone posted ‘As The Rain’ from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. I was immediately hooked by this song, his dusky vocals and the kind of reggae background did the trick. A bit later I stumbled upon the Adrian Sherwood version which gave Jeb’s song a dub treatment, even better!

Over the years I kept encountering his music and have seldom been disappointed.  His work is best described as ‘Countrymusicdisco45reggae’ which somehow he uses effectively!

Jeb Loy Nichols is an American-born expatriate singer, songwriter, musician, artist, and novelist living in Wales. He came to the UK in the early eighties where he met Adrian Sherwood and the rest is history. His first band was The Fellow Travellers, with whom he recorded a couple of albums, again a mix of country, folk, and reggae.

In 1997 Jeb went solo, had a deal with Capitol Records who released his Lover’s Knot album. Unfortunately it did zilch and Jeb had to look for another company.  Luckily he usually manages to get his songs released, whether on Ryko, Rough Trade, Decca, Compass, or other labels. Besides being a musician, Jeb is also an impressive artist who designed most of the artwork of his albums and singles as well as some covers for Pressure Sounds, the UK based reggae label. Jeb is also active as a writer and has published several stories and a novel.
 

Despite an impressive track record of 5 Fellow Travellers, 1 Okra All-Stars, and 18 solo albums, only 1 compilation (of the first 2 solo albums) was ever (self) released.  This Jokonky Field Guide is divided into 2 CDs, the first ‘Singles’ focuses on exactly that: CD/Vinyl/Promo/FLAC one-offs. The second ‘Odds and Sods’ looks into remixes, B-sides, collaborations, dubs, covers (2xPrince, Gomm, Cash), and more. 

If you like what you hear, check out his Bandcamp or his own site for the real deal!