Back in early 2020, when the Drive-By Truckers' tour was brought to a premature end by the pandemic, their opening act was blues singer-songwriter Carl "Buffalo" Nichols.
"The last real show I did was with them in February," Nichols says from Austin, Texas.
Now he's back in the opening slot, and his self-titled debut album was released in October on venerable Mississippi label Fat Possum Records.
"It's really nice," he says of the Truckers' traveling milieu."They've got a great crew and it's great to see them play. They give it 100% every night."
Before the gig Monday at the Rev Room, Nichols is scheduled to be at record store Control Little Rock, 2612 Kavanaugh Blvd. Suite B, at 6 p.m.
Nichols, 30, was born in Houston and grew up in Milwaukee's mostly Black North End. He took up the guitar in junior high and by his late teens was gigging with metal and punk bands.
"I was learning about all this stuff," he says. "And I was listening to jazz, blues, flamenco, just anything that I came across."
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It was while traveling in Europe that he became fully enmeshed in the blues.
"Before this trip, it was hard for me to find that link between all these blues records I heard and people who are living right now," he says in a statement at his website, buffalo-nichols.com. "I figured out it's not a huge commercial thing, but it still has value. So, I came home and started playing the blues more seriously, doing stuff with just me and my guitar."
"Buffalo Nichols" is a refreshing, modern version of traditional country blues. Opening track and first single, "Lost & Lonesome," featuring Nichols' tasteful slide guitar, is a highlight, as is the tender "These Things," with its mournful fiddle.
On the powerful "Another Man," Nichols stares down the decades of violence against Black men -- "When my grandpa was young/he had to hold his tongue/'cause they'd hang you from a bridge downtown/now they call it 'stand your ground'/another man is dead."
"That comes from a time in my life when I was trying to have as big an impact as I could with every song," he says. "I was very political and aggressive and angry with my music. I haven't really moved on from that, but I've tried to be more balanced in my approach."
While Nichols has traveled through here quite often, Monday's show will be his first in Arkansas.
"I've been playing in the roots, Americana world for so long and everybody's always talking about how great the scene in Arkansas is, so I'm excited to see what it's like."