Jeb Loy Nichols returns with a close, conversational set of songs about love, memory and the ordinary details around home. You Know Where I Live has the easy pull of country soul, with Nichols’ unforced voice carried by guitar, flute and carefully placed harmonies. “All the Records” looks back through old songs and old feelings, while “Cold Rain” and “Cardigan Bay” give the album a clear sense of its Welsh surroundings. The writing stays plainspoken, but the emotions rarely do.
Clovis Phillips produced the album and handles guitars, bass, double bass, piano, keyboards, backing vocals and drums, giving the arrangements a warm early-’70s feel that recalls the records of Van Morrison, Jackson Browne and James Taylor without turning into pastiche. Organ from James Welch appears on two tracks, with Jack Gonsalez adding piano to “Cardigan Bay”. Recorded and mixed at AAB Studio in Mid Wales, it sounds intimate without being spare, with enough room around the instruments for each part to register. Fans of thoughtful Americana, folk songwriting and soul-inflected country should find plenty here, especially if they like albums that keep their strongest moments understated.
