Austin 360
Guitarist Mitch Watkins first met drummer Scott Laningham in the early 1980s when they played a gig together at a Mexican restaurant on Sixth Street. Laningham was just 21 years old.
“The way we connected musically led me to suspect that there was more going on personally and spiritually, as well,” Watkins recalled this week. “I certainly put out the word about this new kid to anybody I knew.”
They played music together often over the next 40 years. Watkins, an anchor of the local jazz community who has toured with the likes of Leonard Cohen and Lyle Lovett, enjoyed seeing the young prodigy blossom into one of Austin’s finest musicians.
Photo: Audrey Billups
Johnny Nicholas’ music cannot be pigeonholed in one specific genre, from the beginning of his amazing life and musical journey to today. Nicholas’ latest release,
Mistaken Identity, spans the breadth of his roots music sounds, ranging from blues (“She Stole My Mojo,” here) and Tex-Mex, to honky-tonk and rockabilly and all but one track on this album are originals.
After finishing school, Nicholas hitchhiked and train-hopped in search of the artists and music he loved. He forged relationships with many legends of the blues, western swing, honky-tonk music and the melting pot for it all: South Louisiana and Southeast Texas. He headed north, and led the burgeoning blues scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and for years was a mainstay at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival.