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On October 5th singer/songwriter Nic Dawson Kelly released his debut album on new label Runners Club Records. Called ‘Old Valentine’, the album showcases a classic, almost beat-like songwriting style of an emerging talent, and features a host of guest musicians such as Jim Barr (Portishead), Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexy's), Tom Mansi (Donovan) and Marco Nelson (Primal Scream, Young Disciples) who lend a country/rock/soul sound to the album. “We'd have these people coming and going, improvising a part on an old eight track then heading off” says Nic of these guests.
Born up north in Sheffield, and now residing in the south where he switches his time between Brighton and Reading, Nic has lived all over, travelling from place to place and taking in Derby, Leeds, Reading, Brighton, Galway, London, Argentina and France along the way.
“Due to all the moving about I didn't get too much of a solid education, what I did learn was from my father’s bookshelf and the records that I'd hear from the back of the car. My first tapes were Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers and Dylans "Street Legal" but I suppose influences would run through a wide range of people. Dylan and Waits the obvious. But others, country bluesman, like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House and Blind Willie Mctell. And showmen like Little Richard and Dr John.”
Describing himself as “a polite tear-away in youth who saw enough courtrooms to thankfully grow out of it!” Nic has worked more crap jobs than he cares to remember, “just to keep myself afloat and carry on doing what I loved doing...writing.”
It is this experience which brings such a refreshing sense of honesty to Nic’s songwriting. “I try and write, musically, what I see. I suppose it's a simple as that. Writing how I feel or react or suppose is ongoing, conflicting almost. The songs on the record are changeable, a snapshot of the last few years.”
Having already gained a reputation as a mesmeric live performer, Nic has played on bills with the likes of Jamie T, Laura Marling, Adele, Jason Molina and Richard Hawley, and a UK tour is currently being planned to coincide with the album’s release, although don’t expect the live show to be a carbon copy of songs from the album: “When they're played lived they may be different. That's a show after all, right?”
And what about the future? “Keep doing it. Touring should come about September/October to coincide the the album. The single out a bit earlier. Once the tour’s up then I plan to go back do another record and fill it with all the stuff I've been taken by in the meantime.”
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