Gary Nicholson at St. Monica’s
On Saturday, April 20 a crowd gathered at St. Monica’s Christian Church on First Street in Garland for a fundraising event to support the church’s new community garden. We enjoyed a dinner at 6 p.m. and at 7 p.m. we filed into the church’s sanctuary to hear a concert by Gary Nicholson.
The audience numbered around 200, and I’m willing to bet not one of us expected what was coming next. I had interviewed Gary and Barbara Nicholson when they were in town several years ago. During that interview I learned that Gary had grown up on Garland and had purchased his first guitar from a variety store on Sixth Street, which had become McGillicuddy’s Antique Shop. He was about 8 years old and was being taken to a movie at the Plaza Theater. On the way he and his mother stopped in to browse and he spotted that guitar. His mother bought it for him and that was the beginning of the musical journey this gifted musician embarked on. Gary also conducted a songwriter’s workshop in the Pace House during that visit to Garland. I attended the workshop, too, but never really scratched the surface of who Gary Nicholson really was and the contribution he had made and is continuing to make in the American music world. For some reason the “singer” portion of the title, “singer/songwriter, didn’t penetrate. He came across as a very soft spoken, humble and reticent individual. He did not come across as a performance artist to me at that time.
As we took our seats in the pews of the church, we were given a short welcome by Pastor Eddy Hill and an introduction to the night’s concert by another gentleman, who told us that Gary Nicholson had recorded 500 songs, had performed with or had his songs recorded by just about every big name you can think of in country music. He had been awarded two Grammys and had also been inducted into the Texas Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. We were asked to give our entertainer for the evening a rousing welcome and the crowd responded in kind. Those facts were very impressive, but they didn’t really tell us a thing about the man, nothing about his intelligence, his heart and very soul that he would express during the next hour and a half. He was dressed all in black, from cowboy hat down to his boots. He launched right into his first number, and that man and his guitar had us captivated immediately.
His voice is strong and totally in command of the lyrics, every syllable pronounced with clarity and a certain precision, as only their author could so smoothly coordinate with notes from his guitar. He told short stories relating to the songs he had written. He had us laughing with amusing tales about Tammy Wynette and George Jones, George Strait and several others. He gave us a verbal glimpse at his career path, beginning as a staff writer, and his travels from Texas, to California and eventually to Nashville, where he and Barbara, his wife of 45 years, make their home. She shared how he had taken the exact music, and by changing the lyrics, created three big country hits in a row. As he led into one of his love songs, he said he will take full credit for Garth Brooks and Tricia Underwood becoming a couple with that romantic set of lyrics.
He asked for some audience participation with, “Hallelujah, Y’all”. The thought behind the lyrics was that even in the darkest times we should assume an attitude of gratitude and shout out, “Hallelujah, Y’all”, and we did. We shout it out and it made us feel good. He sang some patriotic songs he had written, and told us of the songwriting workshops he now conducts for veterans. In keeping with that theme, he sang, “Number 19”. The patriotic numbers moved us, but that one moved us to tears. Love and peace has crept into his repertoire, perhaps as a product of his current collaborations with Ringo Starr.
Gary’s music has also found its way into the movie industry, having become part of the soundtrack for “Crazy Heart”. His song was sung by Jeff Bridges, who won an academy Award for his role in the movie. Gary was invited to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and asked to perform a song that asks us to fill that gap that divides us with love. His love songs are very soul stirring, and come from a deeper place. He touched on religion, and even politics, to a small degree. Somehow those “no-no” subjects become very palatable when they are touched upon in lyrics written by Gary Nicholson.
We laughed, we cried, and our emotions were stirred in every directions, just as Gary’s must have been when he wrote and composed all those songs. Gary never took a break and never paused, but continued on for about 90 minutes. As an audience we had been thoroughly entertained, but more than that, we had been inspired. How fortunate Garland is, I thought, to have a performer of this prominence come home to perform in a small church, one he once attended Sunday School, located in a working class neighborhood. That says a lot about Gary Nicholson, too. As I learned in my interview of Gary in years past, he also has a performing alter ego. Whitey Johnson rocks the blues, and has performed with such blues icons like BB King and other stars in that genre. Gary told us there were other songs among the 500 he has recorded, that cannot be sung in church. Many of those would no doubt be Whitey Johnson numbers.
Gary Nicholson has been totally overlooked as a musical giant who began his climb to stardom in the industry right here in Garland Texas. It would be very appropriate for our city planners to honor Gary Nicholson. Since the downtown area is beginning to define itself as an arts center it would be appropriate to commission a piece of outdoor art, such as a sculpture that will inspire young musicians who may want to follow in his footsteps.
If you ask Alexa who Gary Nicholson is, she’ll receive some of the information given here. If you ask her to play music by Gary Nicholson, shell take you to Amazon ZMusic. You can also go to garynicholson.com and click on Pandora.
Nancy
Social