Biography

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Gary Nicholson’s mile-long list of achievements as a songwriter, producer and performer includes writing credits on hundreds of country, blues, Americana and pop songs recorded by some of the world’s most badass, no-last-name-needed legends, from B.B., Bonnie, Buddy and Delbert to Ringo, Waylon and Willie. But unless they’ve seen him in action, most people couldn’t pick the two-time Grammy winner out of a lineup. Performing under two different names — his own, and that of “obscure bluesman” Whitey Johnson — while releasing hardly any albums credited to either, has only fanned the air of mystery that seems to surround his career. The simultaneous June 7, 2019 arrival of two new albums — Nicholson’s The Great Divide and Johnson’s More Days Like This is, a bit of icing on the cake for the 2011 Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee. One of Nashville's most esteemed songwriters, producers and performers, Nicholson has a credits list few others can match. His name appears on 600-some recorded songs spanning multiple genres, including the title track of Ringo Starr’s latest album, Give More Love, and the Merle Haggard tribute, “He Won’t Ever Be Gone,” on Willie Nelson’s God’s Problem Child. With the late Stephen Bruton, Nicholson co-wrote “Fallin' and Flyin’,” sung by Jeff Bridges in the Oscar-winning film Crazy Heart.