{"id":13719,"date":"2019-12-24T10:14:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T16:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=13719"},"modified":"2023-09-03T20:18:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T20:18:45","slug":"album-review-nic-allen-and-the-troubled-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyhayescountry.com\/?p=13719","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Nic Allen And The Troubled Minds."},"content":{"rendered":"
Nic Allen and The Troubled Minds- \u201cOn The Hilltop\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
By Luther Center<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cover art by Jacob Dunn<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Nic Allen- Vocals, acoustic guitar<\/div>\n
Noah Miller- Lead guitar<\/div>\n
Zane Fleming- Bass<\/div>\n
Drew Riley- Drums<\/div>\n
Jeffrey McClelland- Keys, vocals<\/div>\n
Alan Brown- Guitar, vocals<\/div>\n
\ufffc <\/div>\n
Nic Allen at Tootle\u2019s Pumpkin Inn July 13, 2019<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
One of my favorite unexpected pleasures in 2019 was becoming aware of Nic Allen and The Troubled Minds.   I first heard Nic when he appeared as the opener for Eric Bolander at Tootle\u2019s Pumpkin Inn in Circleville, Ohio back in July.   I really enjoyed his show and and thought songs were great, and speaking with him after the show, it turns out he\u2019s a really nice and appreciative fellow.  He mentioned an album coming out and I kept on the lookout for it.  In September, it was released and I snapped up a copy as soon as I could find it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The \u201cOn The Hilltop\u201d album is an ode to Nic\u2019s home, upbringing, family in Chesapeake, Ohio, and perhaps also to the trappings that go with being a honky tonk troubadour. He also gives more than a passing nod to his musical influences.  If you look up Chesapeake on the map, you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s just across the river from Huntington, WV (home of the notorious V Club, where Nic cut his teeth playing live shows), and not far at all from Eastern Kentucky.  Nic grew up listening to his father\u2019s metal and his mother\u2019s country CDs and cassettes while he was growing up on the road at Buffalo Creek where he still lives today, with his wife Melissa, about 500 feet from where he was raised. However, when you listen to this album, you can see that he\u2019s also been listening to what\u2019s been happening in the current blossoming Eastern Ky\/Huntington music scene, and in fact, is now a part of it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The album covers all the bases from hoedown stompers to southern rock\/blues to tear jerker drinking songs.  Nic\u2019s songs are top shelf, he has a strong country baritone voice, and you can tell as soon as the record starts that the band is all-in with his vision.  The production value is impressively high, especially for a debut album.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The album opens with a steel guitar fueled country burner called \u201cFor Heaven\u2019s Sake\u201d.  This one is a \u201cgettin \u2018 drunk\u201d country song, and has a chance to become one of those songs that everybody in the crowd will sing along to with glasses raised.  What a great song to start the album with!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cCheap Pills and Wine\u201d and \u201cLiving This Way\u201d are more in the vein of Lucero or Drive By Truckers mid-tempo rockers with themes of fighting depression and desperation any way you can, and they\u2019re both powerful tunes both in the performance and content.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing to Hold\u201d and \u201cOn The Hilltop\u201d are both about lost love and the struggle to regain one\u2019s self.  Yes, there\u2019s drinking, but there\u2019s also self reflection and regret.  Both of these songs are standouts and \u201cHilltop\u201d especially, is simply one of those any serious songwriter wishes they had written!  Nic claims it\u2019s the most personal song he\u2019s written, and that it\u2019s his wife\u2019s favorite.   Probably mine, too.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cHome\u201d is a flat out rocker, about the struggle of finding one\u2019s way back home, both literally and figuratively.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWorthless Man\u201d and \u201cKilling You Slow\u201d are both slow burns that continue to explore the themes of self worth, self-loathing, and the request for some sort of divine intervention to intercede.  Even with the dark themes, they both, but \u201cKilling You Slow\u201d especially, maintain an air of hope and forgiveness along with incredible chorus hooks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cBuffalo Creek\u201d is about the place Nic has lived his entire life, and where he\u2019ll be laid to rest when his time comes.  Extremely strong song.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cJust a Drink\u201d is a slow country country tear-jerker with that killer steel guitar again.   It starts \u201cJust a drink, a drink will do, so I can forget you tonight\u201d and ends with a light at the end of the tunnel.   This, friends, is  a true country song.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWaste of Time\u201d is an acoustic guitar\/vocal song that chronicles the hardships of love won and lost.  It showcases Nic\u2019s strong baritone, and at times has some Dr. John-like deliveries, that I find I like very much.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Like the best country records, there\u2019s lots of songs about lost love, drinking over lost love, advice from your father, praying for redemption, and finding one\u2019s way home… and still leaves you with hope for the future….and all of those things are good things.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nic Allen and The Troubled Minds- \u201cOn The Hilltop\u201d By Luther Center Cover art by Jacob Dunn Nic Allen- Vocals, acoustic guitar Noah Miller- Lead guitar Zane Fleming- Bass Drew Riley- Drums Jeffrey McClelland- Keys, vocals Alan Brown- Guitar, vocals \ufffc  Nic Allen at Tootle\u2019s Pumpkin Inn July 13, 2019 One of my favorite unexpected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t