Ben Nichols has been an underrated anchor of Americana music since before the genre became overly simplified and radio-friendly under that moniker. His Southern punk roots have infused Lucero’s gritty anthems for a quarter-century, and his new solo album In The Heart of the Mountain continues in the band’s richly-mined themes of yearning, getting by, and never quite getting your shit together. But Mountain juxtaposes those daily struggles against a cinematic backdrop of the wider universe, making these struggles against our worst impulses seem like epic feats of humanity.
Mountain draws from a variety of inspirations, including songs that Nichols wrote for various film projects, as well as the verses of Arkansas poet Frank Stanford. Nichols delved into his own Arkansas origin story to create a series of characters stumbling their own way through the world. The result is an album that inspires deep contemplation about our own connections, and the mountains we strive to climb every day.
