Bio
Originally from the Baltimore/D.C./Northern Va. area Nevada headed west to Phoenix, AZ in the spring of 1991. He spent a few months canvassing the club scene sitting in with bands whenever possible and was eventually offered a gig with roots rockers the Hoodoo Kings but declined choosing instead to put his own band together. The first was a fun group called RX Hijinks who possibly spent more time woodshedding than actually gigging so after a handful of shows disbanded. Then Nevada got on a rockabilly/Grateful Dead kick and put together the Daybreakers- a rootsy blues/swing band that played some old rockabilly mixed with Grateful Dead covers of tunes by Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Howlin' Wolf, and so on. This odd combination inspired Nevada's interest in mixing multiple styles in an effort to find a sound unique to his own sensibility. Eventually he discovered the finger-style playing of Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt and was mesmerized into purchasing his first resonator guitar and returning to the source...Washington DC.
Upon returning to the east coast in 1993, Nevada enrolled at college to study music formally. Classical guitar, piano, music history, theory and composition all helped him develop an appreciation and understanding of "art" music. To help pay rent and tuition Nevada played with several local blues bands, a honky-tonk country band called the Slim Jims and boogie woogie piano legend Daryl Davis. When taking a break from the books and the scales he would spend hours listening to scratchy recordings of prewar country blues and jug-band music, easily found in DC's rich musical heritage. After finding a few others who shared an interest in these traditional styles Nevada formed The Resonators with fellow guitarist JC Veve and blues harpist Steve Levine. The group played together for several years and produced a self titled CD in the mid 90's. Around this time Nevada and JC became fascinated with the sound of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, and their country blues trio morphed into Hokum Jazz with the addition of singer Esther Haynes. With hopes of putting together a group whose sound encompassed all the styles he wanted to play, Nevada began making plans to record a cd combining both groups with the addition of a rhythm section that would be called The Hokum Music Company. These plans were put on hold however when he discovered that a whacky acoustic ensemble from Austin, TX had beaten him to the punch. That ensemble was the Asylum StreetSpankers and in 2002 they were looking for a guitarist so Nevada took the job without hesitation.
The Asylum St. Spankers toured relentlessly through just about every major city in the United States, as well as several trips to Europe and Japan. Although Nevada originally joined the group as a guitarist (with an occasional chance to sing backing harmonies), he gradually worked his way to a front-man position performing his own originals as well as tunes by retired spankers that had remained show favorites. During his nine-year stint as a Spanker, Nevada participated in the making of six CD's and two DVD's. Several of his tunes are featured on Spanker releases including a rollicking calypso entitled "Smokey Dokey" on "Pussycat" (2005) and "Superfrog," penned by Nevada for the Spankers award winning children’s record "Mommy Says No!" In 2005 he produced his first solo effort "Why Do It Right?" which is a seamless blend of blues, jazz, swing, calypso and ska.
After the Spankers disbanded in 2011 Nevada joined Guy Forsyths' Hot Nut Riveters featuring an all-star lineup of musicians. Mark Rubin (Bad Livers), Kris Wade (Ghosts Along The Brazos), Oliver Steck (Bob Schneider Band), Albanie Falletta producer Matt Smith of The Six String Ranch and of course Guy Forsyth. The Hot Nut Riveters released their first CD "Moustache Girl" in 2014 which they then took to the International Folk Alliance in K.C. and managed to score a few tours. While at the folk festival Nevada befriended a handful of musicians playing traditional Quebecois tunes and became enamored with the "squeezebox" or cajun accordion. A few months later the Riveters were on tour in Louisiana and payed a visit to Jr. Martin at Martin Accordions in Lafayette where Nevada scored the accordion that would lead to an obsession with cajun music.
Chansons Et Soûlards had already been performing in the Austin area for about a year when Nevada joined on lead guitar. Soon after the band was hired for the tuesday night cajun dance residency at the legendary White Horse in Austin. In the summer and fall of 2016 Nevada produced an album with Chansons Et Soûlards that was released in Sept. 2017. Chansons Et Soúlards is one of only a handful of cajun bands on the scene in Austin and perform as a trio as well as a full six piece dance band. You'll find them regularly at places like Texas Keeper Cider, Sam's Town Point, Antones, The Continental Club and all the crawfish boils and festivals.
Two members of the band work in the tv/film industry in Austin and that's how in 2017 Nevada landed a non-musical gig on the AMC tv series Fear The Walking Dead. That's right, a professional zombie (walker) for three seasons now. He has since had the great fun of being on two tv shows, two movies- "The Lost Husband" (2020) and "The Reunion" (2020) and an infomercial for a local Austin business.
In 2019 and 2020 Nevada has also been busy in the studio working on his solo material that's been piling up ever since 2005's "Why Do It Right". His first new single releases on May 1st, 2020. All of Nevada's music is available on the music page of this site as well as all the major streaming services.
