In 1977, Johnny Nicholas released Too Many
Bad Habits on the Blind Pig label, one of the
label’s first. The album teamed Nicholas with blues
legends Johnny Shines and Big Walter Horton, along
with Ray Benson and original members of the country
music band Asleep at the Wheel. Unfortunately, the
label cut the album from their catalog in 1978, not
long after Nicholas joined Asleep at the Wheel and
stopped touring under his own name.
For years, Nicholas requested the original masters
from the label and finally, in early 2016, he got
possession of the multi track tapes, masters, art
work, and photos. To his surprise, he also received
a batch of never-before-released performances from
the sessions in the deal that included additional
tracks with Shines and Horton, along with piano man
Boogie Woogie Red. He has repackaged and reissued
the original album, along with an extra disc
featuring the unreleased material on his own The
People’s Label.
Nicholas, a native of Rhode Island, got his musical
start playing with several different bands in the
’60s, joined by fellow classmates Duke Robillard,
Ronnie Earl, and sax man Kaz Kazanoff. He
later spent time in Chicago, where he often played
with Shines, Horton, Robert Lockwood Jr., Howlin’
Wolf, and Roosevelt Sykes. He played a huge role in
building up the blues scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
where he lived for several years, bringing many
legendary artists such as Shines, Horton, and Boogie
Woogie Red to clubs, concerts, and festivals in the
area.
Too Many Bad Habits was recorded at three
different studios, one in Austin, Texas featuring
Nicholas with members of Asleep at the Wheel. Though
renowned for their forays into Western Swing and
Country, the members of Asleep at the Wheel (Ray
Benson –guitar, Link Davis, Jr. – tenor sax, Bill
Mabry – fiddle, Lucky Oceans - drums, and Tony
Garnier – bass) along with Nicholas, all shared a
deep abiding love for the blues and it shows on
their selections. “Mandolin Boogie” is a
freewheeling jam that includes fiddle as well as
mandolin, and the band is a perfect fit for the
Mississippi Sheiks classic “Sitting On Top Of The
World” and the rollicking Nicholas original “Got The
Train.”
The remainder of the tracks were recorded in
Michigan and find Nicholas playing with and backing
Shines, Horton, and Red. Though Nicholas sings the
bulk of these tunes, Shines gets a turn behind the
mic on his own “Blues Came Fallin’ Down,” and his
powerful, distinctive guitar work is heard
throughout. Horton is one of the vastly underrated
post-war harmonica players, and he gets ample
opportunity to show his stuff on tracks like
Nicholas’ “Blues Walk,” Tommy Johnson’s “New Canned
Heat Blues,” ‘Careless Love,” “Gettin’ Outta Town”
and “West Wind,” where he gets a turn on vocals as
well.
Nicholas has a very soulful and expressive vocal
style that fits these tunes to a tee, and he plays
guitar, mandolin, and piano on these tracks. His
unaccompanied vocal on Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your
Face” is excellent, and his own compositions,
including the clever title track and the wicked
shuffle “Looks Can Be Deceiving,” are first-rate.
The Michigan sessions also include Martin Gross on
drums and E.P. Jones on bass.
The second disc focuses pretty much on Nicholas,
Shines, Horton, and Boogie Woogie Red, backed by
Gross and Jones. The Nicholas original “Move On Down
The Line” is a fun romp with Shines and Horton
trading vocals, and Red joins the group on piano for
“Pump Jockey Blues,” also taking the vocal on Jay
McShann’s standard “Hootie Blues,” and joins with
Nicholas and Horton on the stirring closer St. Louis
Jimmy Oden’s “Soon Forgotten.”
The interplay between Shines, Horton, and Nicholas
is stunning at times. The instrumental “Apple Grove
Rhumba” is probably the best example on this
collection of their musical chemistry, but their
collaborations on Nicholas’ “Believe I’ll Make A
Change” and Jimmy Rogers’ “Money, Marbles and Chalk”
are equally effective.
A wonderful listening experience from beginning to
end, Too Many Bad Habits will be a welcome
addition to the collection of any fan of traditional
Chicago blues. While the original album is a
masterpiece in itself, it’s made even better by the
inclusion of the recently rediscovered tracks. It’s
hard to believe that these songs haven’t been
available for over 40 years, but thank goodness
that’s not the case anymore.