Looking at the career and achievements of Gary Nicholson, it’s a wonder the man has ever gotten a full night’s sleep. The word “prolific” seems paltry when considering his talents and scope. Nicholson’s songwriting and co-writing credits alone include more than 600 compositions recorded by greats across a wealth of genres, and a short list of recent cuts includes: “He Won’t Ever Be Gone,” a heartbreaking tribute to Merle Haggard that closes Willie Nelson’s new LP God’s Problem Child; the title track of the new Taj Mahal/Keb’ Mo’ collaborative album Don’t Leave Me Here; and the title cut on Give More Love by Ringo Starr, with whom Nicholson has been collaborating periodically since 2003. Nicholson’s all-encompassing lifelong love for and pursuit of music has taken many forms and led him many places. But if you ask him what he enjoys most among the host of things he does, his response is a quick one. “Bottom line: I’m a songwriter,” he says. “That’s what is sometimes so surreal for me, working with people I have idolized or listened to much of my life. And now you’re working or writing with them and exchanging ideas, and they turn out to be just wonderful, and so willing to listen to what you have to say. Songwriting is really a cooperative venture, anyhow. The worst mistake you can ever make is to think that you’ve got everything perfectly written, and that there’s nothing that can improve it. There have been so many times when I have a song and then someone will get it and just tweak a line, or change a phrase, or approach the melody a little differently, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I didn’t even think of that.’ ” That modesty might belie Nicholson’s prodigious talent, but the formula is clearly working.

Chip Roop is an acoustic pop/rock musician who recently relocated from South Florida to Keller, TX. With his passion for stripped arrangements that focus on vocals, acoustic guitars, a well crafted song, as well high energy acoustic live performances