After finishing school, Johnny Nicholas hit the road, hitchhiking and hopping freight trains on pilgrimages, searching for the music he loved and the artists who created it. Nicholas established relationships with many legends of the blues, Western swing and honky-tonk in the melting pot for it all: South Louisiana and Southeast Texas. Mistaken Identity is a homecoming, to the prairies and bayou country of Southwest Louisiana in the ’70s.

Fast forward past his tenure as a front man with Western swing icons Asleep At The Wheel, eight solo albums, raising a family, touring the world both solo and with the likes of Big Walter Horton, Roosevelt Sykes, Robert Junior Lockwood, Snooky Pryor and Johnny Shines, and we find him winding up, full circle, back in in Joel Savoy’s tiny but magical little studio outside of Eunice, just a few miles down the road from where it all began in Basile, Louisiana.

Johnny Nicholas told Elmore: “It all started out with the blues for me. Once that bug bit me, I was infected with a love of what is now called Americana or roots music. No matter what you call it, it all started out with the blues and all of its musical manifestations.

“Southwest Louisiana and Texas is where it all came together for me as a young man: the melting pot, or Gumbo pot for all the music I loved. My time in Basile, Louisiana, and the surrounding area throughout the seventies is where I grew up musically during the time I spent there with Link Davis Jr, Nathan Abshire and Dewey Balfa, who always showed up fiddle in hand and said, ‘Hey Johnny, let’s get dirty!’ That’s exactly what we did; whether it was blues, Cajun, R&B or Honky-Tonk music and it all made perfect sense in that environment.

“This album represents a homecoming, or coming full circle for me by getting back to the place where it all started. It was such a gas bringing my guys from Austin down to record in my old stompin’ grounds in Southwest Louisiana and posting up at Joel Savoy’s magical little studio just outside of Eunice. Most of the tracks on Mistaken Identity, including the vocals, were recorded ‘live’ with very few overdubs. Enjoy the musical journey.”

“We spent a week in and around Basile, Louisiana, with producer Joel Savoy and filmmaker Audrey Billups in tow. We hit the back roads looking for cool out-of-the-way funky places (of which there are no shortage in that neck of the woods) and hit up some of my old favorite hangouts and friends. Oh yeah, we ate real good and played a bunch of music in our free time-but then that’s how the folks roll in Acadiana!

Learn more about Johnny Nicholas HERE

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“Full Circle” could be the title for this record but Mistaken Identity is appropriate enough. Sit back and let it all wash over you: great musicianship, storytelling and melodies, all filtered down through the experiences of a true troubadour and cooked up as a gumbo that will leave your musical taste buds wanting more.

Preorder this amazing album HERE or from Valcour Records