Jimmy Nalls

Jimmy Nalls - Ain't No Stranger - 1999 - MRL

Jimmy Nalls returns to the studio to create an album of sheer perfection. With fluid, soulful guitar work that parallels and oftentimes even exceeds his Sea Level efforts, coupled with inspiring lyrics and vocal delivery, "Ain't No Stranger" will be one of the finer releases to make it's way into your CD player in many moons. Nalls was battling the pain and coordination disruption of Parkinson's disease the whole time this record was being tracked, but there are no signs of stress to be found. Rather, the music herein bubbles with inspiration, clarity, and precision playing. With guests that include veteran Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers keyboard wizard Chuck Leavell, slide king Lee Roy Parnell, and former touring partner T. Graham Brown, the album exhudes creativity and stellar musicianship from start to finish. With heavy doses of jazz and funk, and good old fashioned rock & roll, Ain't No Stranger is as good as it gets. © Michael B. Smith, All Music Guide © 2010 Answers Corporation http://www.answers.com/topic/ain-t-no-stranger

NOMINATED FOR MUSIC CITY BLUES CD OF THE YEAR 2000! The first solo cd by Sea Level founder and guitarist Jimmy Nalls features guest appearances by friends like Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell, former Allman Brother Jack Pearson, Lee Roy Parnell, T. Graham Brown, Blues guitarist Mike Henderson and others. Jimmy Nalls is an alumni of Dr John's band, Alex Taylor's band (brother of James), The Nighthawks and and is a sought after session player and producer. A swampy rocker with shades of New Orleans, GREAT guitar players and cool songwriting. Critics love it (Blues Revue, Billboard Magazine, see Jimmy's web site) and you will too! - © http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jimmynalls

"The opening track ("The Voo Doo In You") provides a preview of the elements that make this a great record: rich, roomy production, Nalls' warm, throaty singing, and a guitar tone to die for. In fact, if any element of "Ain't No Stranger" stands out, it's the various flavors of tone-with-a-capital-T that Nalls and his co-producer coax from his axe."- Blues Revue

"A dynamite package of Southern rock and blues. Complete with his own scorchin' guitars and vocal work, Nalls hosts a wide assortment of friends in the studio to support him. High-ended rockers and ball-breakin' bluesy ballads give Jimmy Nalls a guitarist's release destined to be a favorite of blues rockers and Southern rock fans." - Big City Blues

Jimmy Nalls sings in a laid-back, Mark Knopfler sort of voice and picks roots-soaked guitar that's given him such a prolonged career."- The Baton Rouge Advocate

"This album is packed with one gem after another. If you want to prove to anyone that a great Music City recording can be a lot besides country, just whip this bad boy on 'em. They'll be treated to endless thrills and chills." - Music City Blues Bluesletter

After playing with the great Sea Level and as a session man with the best in the business, Jimmy Nalls launched a solo career at age forty-eight. Critics lauded this album for it's “rich roomy production, Nalls’ warm, throaty singing, and a guitar tone to die for.” It was nominated for Best Blues Album by The Nashville Music Awards (The Nammys) and also The Music City Blues Society. The album is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy Jimmy's "No Stranger to the Blues" album, and listen to Sea Level's 1977 s/t album @ SEALEV/ST77 where Jimmy plays some great guitar.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

The Voodoo in You - Jackie Avery
Down in New Orleans - Jim Nalls, Noel Roy, John Jaworowicz
It's Mighty Crazy - Lightnin' Slim, Jerry West
I Ain't No Stanger to the Blues - Dave Duncan, Jim Nalls, Phil Dillon
Devil at My Door - Jim Nalls
Mellow Down Easy - Willie Dixon
Hey Brother - Bill Edwards, Phil Dillon
Good Luck, Money & Gasoline - Jim Whitford
The Stroll - Clyde Otis, Nancy Lee Jim Nalls
Another Love Like Mine - Jim Nalls, Phil Dillon
I Got the Fever - Dave Duncan, Jim Nalls Jim Nalls
House of Love - Rick Moore, Will Rhodarmer
In the Time It Takes to Cry - Steve Bassett
Jennifer's Wheel - Jim Nalls

MUSICIANS

Jimmy Nalls - guitar & vocals
Jack Pearson - guitar & slide guitar
Mike Henderson, Lee Roy Parnell - slide guitar
Kris Grempler, Steve Mackey, Charlie Hayward - bass
Mark T. Jordan, Chuck Leavell - piano
Joe Warner, Carson Whitsett - organ
Greg Hicks, Mike Caputy, Maxwell Schauf, Tony Hajacos - drums
Richard Carter, Glen Caruba - percussion
Harry Stinson - percussion, background vocals
Doug Moffet, Wayne Jackson - horns
Will Rhodarmer - harmonica
Nanette Britt, Vicki Carrico, Willie Schoellkopf, Phil Dillon - background vocals

BIO / ALBUMS / INFO.

Guitarist Jimmy Nalls ain't no stranger to the world of music. His first-ever solo album, titled "Ain't No Stranger," features some of his close friends and recording buddies during his years of playing music. Friends like Chuck Leavell, Jack Pearson, Lee Roy Parnell, T. Graham Brown, Mike Henderson, Wayne Jackson, Charlie Hayward and more contribute to Jimmy Nalls' debut solo release. Recorded in Nashville and produced by Phil Dillon and Jimmy Nalls, the album, "doesn't sound like a Nashville album," says Nalls. "It almost feels like we went back to Macon to make this record." Jimmy Nalls spent a lot of time in Macon, Georgia, once the hotbed of the Southern Rock musical movement. In addition to the bands he worked with out of Macon, he also recorded on numerous albums including those by Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett, Percy Sledge and Bobby Whitlock, to name a few. After living and working in New York for about a year, Nalls hooked up with singer Alex Taylor (older brother of James) and a kick-ass band that featured Chuck Leavell, Charlie Hayward, Lou Mullinex and for a time, Paul Hornsby. The band toured with Taylor in support of his two Capricorn releases "With Friends & Neighbors" and "Dinnertime." For about eight months in 1972, that same band went on the road to back Dr. John during his "Right Place, Wrong Time" period. "Working with Mac (Rebennack, aka Dr. John) was like going to school," says Nalls. "We all learned so much from that guy in such a short amount of time." In the mid '70s, after gigging around New York and his home area of Washington DC, Nalls got a call from Chuck Leavell who was now a member of The Allman Brothers Band. He reunited with Leavell at an ABB soundcheck, and the beginnings of what would become Sea Level started to simmer. Several months later, Chuck, bassist Lamar Williams and drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson left The Allman Brothers Band to start their own band. Chuck called Jimmy to see if he would play guitar. Sea Level recorded five albums, four for Capricorn Records and one for Arista. Dissolving in 1981, Chuck joined the Rolling Stones, Jaimoe returned to The Allman Brothers Band, and Lamar's health continued to deteriorate. He died of cancer several years later. Jimmy Nalls headed up his own band for a time and continued with his session work. After a short 30-date Sea Level reunion tour, he re-connected with Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul & Mary) touring Europe, Australia and the States. It was Stookey who gave Nalls his first recording session on "The Wedding Song" album back in the early '70s. After a short stint touring with country singer B.J. Thomas, Nalls moved to Nashville in 1986, working with singer Charley McClain. Two years later he joined the legendary blues band The Nighthawks as lead guitarist along with former Wet Willie front-man Jimmy Hall, and for more than two years, "we were the band from hell," says Nalls. "That band was dangerous. We toured Japan and Europe several times during that time. It seemed that all we did was travel, but it sure was fun." Opting for more of a home life, Nalls quit the Nighthawks and accepted a more normal touring life working with country-soul singer T. Graham Brown. For four years, Nalls played guitar behind Brown's soulful country songs, recording with Brown on the album "You Can't Take It With You." In the fall of 1995 Nalls learned he was suffering from Parkinson's disease. "At first I didn't tell anybody about the Parkinson's," he admits. "It was such a shock to me and to my family. I wasn't sure what was going to happen or how the disease would progress." Moving at his own pace, Nalls turned down various opportunities to tour or do sessions. He did work on the Blues Co-Op project in 1997 and also produced Rick Moore & Mr. Lucky's first album, which was released last year. Both projects are on the MRL label. Work on his own album project began in late 1998 and proved to be strenuous at times. Recording for MRL Records, the pressure to deliver an album by a certain date did not exist, but the pressure to deliver a quality album did. Nalls and co-producer Phil Dillon worked at a pace that was comfortable, not frantic. The result is "Ain't No Stranger," a 14-song recording that runs the gamut from rock 'n' roll to blues to New Orleans funk to a touch of swamp music. Nalls wrote or co-wrote six of the songs and selected choice material such as Jackie Avery's "The Voo Doo In You" (first recorded by Johnny Jenkins in 1970), the Clyde Otis/ Nancy Lee classic "The Stroll," and Willie Dixon's "Mellow Down Easy." Bluebloods guitarist Mike Henderson adds his distinctive slide guitar to "Good Luck, Money & Gasoline," while Chuck Leavell plays piano on two songs, "Down In New Orleans" and the title track "I Ain't No Stranger To The Blues." Lee Roy Parnell and T. Graham Brown team up as guest vocalists on "Hey Brother" with Lee Roy adding his trademark slide guitar to the track. Current Allman Brothers Band guitarist Jack Pearson plays on "It's Mighty Crazy" and "In The Time It Takes To Cry," and Wayne Jackson of The Memphis Horns adds his sound to three tracks, "Another Love Like Mine," "The Stroll" and "Hey Brother." "This album has been a long time coming," says Jimmy Nalls. "If it hadn't been for my illness, it probably never would have been made. I'd still be out on the road guitar slinging for somebody. It's funny how things work out." With the release of "Ain't No Stranger," music fans will be reintroduced to Jimmy Nalls, an old friend who truly ain't no stranger. © Copyright M R L Records http://www.mrluckyband.com/cds/nalls/jnallsbio.html