Jared James Nichols – Highwayman EP

Guitarist Jared James Nichols is releasing a new EP to coincide with his tour supporting Glenn Hughes.  Anyone who has listened to his album (Old Glory & the wild revival) and seen him live will know he’s a great guitarist and a great live performer, so both the EP and the tour are things to look forward to.

The EP follows a run of 70 live dates in Europe and the UK earlier this year, and contains 5 songs – 3 original compositions and 2 covers.

The EP kicks off with a fantastic cover of the Grand Funk Railroad song “We’re an American band”.

The other cover on the EP is Humble Pie’s “30 days in the hole”, and once again is a great cover.

When you’re covering Humble Pie and Grand Funk Railroad, you have to be pretty confident in your own material as it’s certain to be compared directly against the covers.  Jared James Nichols has nothing to fear from such a comparison though – his songs stand up well to the comparison.

I do enjoy seeing bands include the occasional cover version on their releases when that choice of cover sheds light on their musical influences or has a real meaning for them, so this EP with its mix of original songs and covers is a great release.  All five songs are great – powerful guitar riffs and great vocals give a pretty good idea of what Jared James Nichols is like live.  This EP is highly recommended – and so is catching one of his live dates.

Track listing:

1. We’re an American band
2. Old Glory
3. 30 days in the hole
4. Fallin’ down
5. Gone