Buffalo Nichols

Buffalo Nichols is an artist who honors the traditions of the blues, while adding 21st Century accents to music that’s centuries old. Nichols plays acoustic guitar in a style with its roots in country blues, his lyrical concerns run from the hard truths about family and relationships to political and racial concerns of the present day, and he incorporates electronics and samples that add to the powerful atmosphere of his songs. His self-titled debut album, released in 2021, was mostly devoted to spare, acoustic blues with occasional backing from a small band, and 2023′s The Fatalist was a more ambitious offering where he explored drum machines and the possibilities of the recording studio.
Buffalo Nichols was born Carl Nichols in Houston, TX. He moved to Milwaukee, WI with his single mother and four siblings when he was just a year old. When he was ten years old, he picked up his older sister’s acoustic guitar and began teaching himself to play, and at thirteen, he discovered punk rock, drawn in by the power of the music as well as the sense of community among the artists and fans. He started exploring vintage blues music after picking up a soundtrack CD from the PBS documentary series The Blues, produced by Martin Scorsese. It led to a deep dive into vintage blues music, exploring the traditions of Black music, especially from musicians who, like him, were born in Texas. He went from playing punk licks on his acoustic to mastering the more intricate leads of Lightnin' Hopkins and Tommy Johnson, and after completing high school, he was eager to pursue a career in music.
Answering an ad on Craigslist, Nichols met a group of musicians from West Africa looking for a guitarist, and he spent five years performing with a group called Jali Kunda, working day jobs in restaurants and auto repair shops to support himself as he explored West African music. After dropping out of the group, Nichols visited Europe and encountered DakhaBrakha, a group that performed Ukrainian folk music with a modern accent. Nichols was inspired to do something similar with American folk and blues music, and teaming with bassist and singer Johanna Rose, he formed the group Nickel & Rose, who toured North America and Europe with their fusion of blues, folk, jazz, and bluegrass. While Nickel & Rose developed a following, Nichols felt alienated in a musical community that drew deep influence from Black artists while making little room for contemporary acoustic performers who were people of color, a dilemma he summed up in the song “Americana.” Nichols began writing and performing songs of his own that better reflected his musical roots and his outlook on the world, and he left the Nickel & Rose duo to go solo, billing himself as Buffalo Nichols. Moving to Austin, TX, Nichols began honing his new material and came to the attention of Fat Possum Records, an eclectic indie label that initially specialized in raw Southern blues. The staff at Fat Possum were impressed with Nichols’ talent and message, and they released his first solo LP, Buffalo Nichols, in October 2021. After touring in support of the album, Nichols left Austin to return to his hometown of Milwaukee, and took a more ambitious approach to the making of his second album. Incorporating drum machines, sampling, and synthesizers along with acoustic guitar and banjo, The Fatalist was produced, recorded, and mixed entirely by Nichols, who also played all the instruments. The Fatalist was issued by Fat Possum in September 2023. ~ Mark Deming