Jeff Nich's songs reflect his chosen Vermont
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Stowe singer-songwriter Jeff Nich, at 44, has just released his first album, "Another Season." Web photo |
Toolbox
By Art Edelstein Arts Correspondent - Published: November 21, 2008
In today's America, with the economy imploding, the Big Three threatened with bankruptcy, heating oil at record levels, and two wars to fight, we sometimes forget that life in Vermont is – in general – simpler and less complicated than in the nation-at-large. Look out the window on a November morning and light snow is falling, deer are munching grass in a field, and the rivers are beginning to show signs of icing. Jeff Nich has captured this picture of our state in his new CD "Another Season."
Nich is a Stowe singer-songwriter whose interest is in writing thoughtful, evocative songs, and for this album he's developed a strong Vermont perspective. His voice is pleasant, easy to listen to in the dimming light of dusk. This album is well-recorded with Chuck Eller contributing keyboards and production on this carefully engineered 10-song collection. Yet, Nich, is not using this CD as a vehicle for getting a lot of gigs or to start a touring career. He's happily ensconced in Lamoille County as a marketer.
But, if you're a writer you must write, and "Another Season" is Nich's way of bringing his inner artist to a wider audience than friends and the few who might hear him at his infrequent performances.
I recently listened to this CD on a drive back from Burlington one evening and was struck by the simplicity of the messages in the songs. Using an acoustic guitar, some piano or organ, a bit of harmonica and drums and bass, the album conveys a quiet and comforting message that Vermont is a sane place even with the nation's economy crumbling around us.
"Most of the songs on this album deal with time, change and balance," said Nich in an interview. "I chose ones that are the most rooted in the Vermont experience."
Nich, like many others who've moved here in recent decades, sees the Vermont experience as "balance and slowing down, and hope."
There is a sense of the wistful, the plaintive, a writer in awe of the country lifestyle and the state in general. He could have titled this album "A Vermont State of Mind" and not been off the mark.
This is a truism for many, as the song title "Move to the Mountains" makes explicit.
Nich at age 44 said he has been writing since college, and after a long hiatus he began playing open mics again in the early 2000s. Two of his songs made local song-compilation albums — "Vermont Nights" and "Man's Best Friends" — in the 1990s, but it's taken this long to get a full album recorded.
Of the title track, "Another Season," Nich says, "I was sitting in my basement on a Sunday in September playing with an alternative tuning on my guitar. I was thinking about living in New England and changes I needed to make in my life. I was noting how where I lived, the weather and seasons, really supported making those life changes. And a song was born."
In part, the words read:
Vermont is on the corner of September at noon
If we're going to get another one of these Sundays
It's gonna have to happen soon
Got so many choices today that I can't seem to move
So I'm waiting on winter
To start singing a different tune
Hey, look what's changing now
Another season pulling me around.
In "Vermont Night," he writes:
Earth on my back
Changing sky is in my eyes
The pines crowd round and laugh
While the wind just can't decide
I know days go
Down like tired eyes
Times still until
That moon begins to rise
What a night.
Nich said his main interest is in writing songs but he will be playing a few local gigs, and I think his songs are strong enough that even with just a guitar, the simple message that life in Vermont is good, perhaps better than most places will get through. You can hear him Dec. 26 at the Bee's Knees in Morrisville and Feb. 5 in Hardwick at Claire's. You can learn more at www.jeffnich.com.
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