Nic Clark had a fairly unconventional childhood, which is perhaps one reason why his first album, Love Your Life / Songs for the Whole Family, came out youth-centric.  It wasn’t that he wasn’t supported— in fact, his mom got him the certificate that allowed him to play in bars at the tender age of twelve.  It was the school thing.  His school system in the Denver area had a truancy court, and he set up semi-permanent residency there around the 7th grade.

You see, he had found the blues.  Visiting a bookstore with his brother, he found a book about harmonica playing which included pictures of Sonny Boy Williamson and Stevie Wonder and a harmonica….and he never came down.  The harp was his school, and he never missed a class there.  Soon he was playing live and then, after the shattering loss of both a young cousin and his grandfather, he found the healing power of music, too.

The harp led to the blues, and he identified his biggest influences as Mavis and the rest of the Staples Family, Taj Mahal, Curtis Mayfield, and the Staples’ “Respect Yourself”—“Such simple and direct lyrics,” he says, “But so many layers.”

Nic is making his SideHustle Records debut in July of 2023.