About the Artist

Kentucky-born and based in Cincinnati, Ohio, singer-songwriter Nicholas Johnson’s story is not a typical one. One that included walking away from his career and uprooting his life to relocate across the pond to Milan, Italy. Once there, Johnson inadvertently embarked upon a music career in earnest by playing in cafes and bars along the canals of the Navigli district and pubs of Porta Romana. From there, he was adopted and welcomed into the Italian music scene and helped along by the likes of Andrea Rock (Virgin Radio), fellow expat Nic Cester (Jet), and many others.

Flying back and forth to the US to record his fourth release, the seven-track album spanning twenty-six minutes, Shady Pines Vol. 2 (Ninja Jam Records), Johnson follows-up 2017’s Shady Pines Vol. 1 to complete the vision he originally had for the two-part project.

Shady Pines Vol. 1 (Ninja Jam Records) was the first half of the collaboration that found Johnson teaming up with producer and engineer Patrick Himes (Ryan Adams, Ethan Johns, Lilly Hiatt) with the goal in mind to craft a recording that matched the intensity of his live shows. The result is a fiery brand of roots and rock that manages to sound both achingly familiar and fiercely original.

Building upon Vol. 1, Shady Pines Vol. 2 combines his Southern and Midwest roots into a sound that is best described as Southern roots meets Midwest rust-belt rock: Heartfelt, earnest, melodic, and true to the soil he was raised on. Paying homage to the likes of Tom Petty, Jeff Tweedy, and even Bruce Springsteen, Johnson creates a rock record that has as much grit as it does polish.