Salim Nourallah, Vanessa Peters, Nicholas Altobelli

Salim Nourallah is a North Texas music scene fixture. After gaining initial acclaim with the Denton-based Nourallah Brothers he has gone on to release several solo albums and produce a fine list of many others (including the Old 97s, Rhett Miller, Deathray Davies & Carter Albrecht). His solo debut Polaroid (2004) was met with reviews like this one: "discovering a singer-songwriter who can stop time is rare, but Salim Nourallah is such a find..." (Rolling Stone). Beautiful Noise followed in 2006 to more critical acclaim and he swept the Observer music awards with Best Album/Best Song and Best Producer. Salim has gone on to win 5 consecutive Observer Awards for Best Producer. His 5th solo cd, Hit Parade, was released in April 2012 by the German indie label, Tapete Records. Salim's next album, Skeleton Closet, will be releasing in late 2014.


Called "the best kind of singer-songwriter" by The Dallas Observer, Vanessa Peters has played over 1000 shows in 11 countries since 2003, receiving accolades from abroad and in her hometown of Dallas, where she was recently nominated as “Best Folk Artist." She continues to tour the US and in Europe, where she has a strong fan base thanks to the albums she made with her former Italian band, Ice Cream on Mondays, and the hundreds of shows she has played in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark.

Her most recent album, "The Burn The Truth The Lies," was her most commercially and critically successful to date. Financed through Kickstarter, the album was recorded by Jim Vollentine (Patty Griffin, Spoon) and produced by Rip Rowan (Old 97s, Rhett Miller). She was backed by an all-star cast of Texas musicians, including Grammy award-winning guitarist Joe Reyes, drummer John Dufilho (Apples in Stereo), and bassist Jason Garner (The Polyphonic Spree).

After touring for two years in support of her last album, Vanessa is now working on a number of new projects. She expects to release at least two albums in 2015 – an Americana-tinged album recorded with The Sentimentals, as well as an album of her own material co-produced with Rip Rowan. And who knows? “I’ve been dying to do a covers record for years,” Vanessa says with a little smile. “Don’t see why we can’t squeeze that in as well.”

“The singer-songwriter’s fifth full-length, the album’s rich with intimate observations and relaxed, natural musicianship even on exuberant anthems such as “Grateful.” Her writing and unaffected deliver evokes Aimee Mann as well as the Weakerthans’ John K. Samson”
- David Greenwald, music critic for the Oregonian


Optimism is not a word usually associated with a Nicholas Altobelli album. However, if you look hard enough, there are faint streaks of light all through his collection of new songs entitled Searching Through That Minor Key (out on July 7th via Dalton Records).

Shortly before the release of the 2013 acclaimed album, Without a Home, which was praised by No Depression as "pop perfection," Altobelli quietly entered the studio to work on new music. "I went in with no plans to make another album. I just wanted to hoard as many songs as I could for my song vault and release them many years later if at all," Altobelli recalls. However, it was quite clear early on that there was something special going on.

Once again, Salim Nourallah (Old 97's, Rhett Miller) was at the reigns guiding an all-star lineup of Texas musicians that included John Dufilho (Deathray Davies), Joe Reyes (Grammy winner), Paul Slavens, Chris Holt (Sorta), Laura Scarborough, Rahim Quazi and many others.
By the time Halloween of 2013 arrived, the album was 85% finished and was on pace for a second quarter 2014 release.

However, Altobelli was confronted with growing troubles at home. "My marriage was crumbling and there was nothing I could do. The only thing I could do was put the album on hold indefinitely," he says. "And being the dedicated, or overly obsessed, songwriter I am, I began to write new music and that's where the Mesocyclone EP materialized."

Mesocyclone was recorded during the hiatus from Searching Through That Minor Key during the winter of 2013/2014. The EP was released in August of 2014 to acclaim. Exclaim! Magazine in Canada called it "Americana roots perfection" and the EP also garnered local praise in North Texas.

After Mesocyclone, Altobelli almost decided to scrap the unfinished album. "There was a point where I didn't know if I connected with these songs," he says. "I'm used to writing about my inner turmoil with nothing but darkness. However, these songs had faint glows of optimism and it felt foreign to me."

The light he references can be found subtly throughout the album. The lead single, "Sarah," reminisces about a high school crush, "Dogwood" embraces a life path and decision, and "In The Morning" begins with the hopeful lyric, "Death may come a little too close/But I will feel alive in the morning."

While there is a hopeful light to a majority of the songs, this would not be a Nicholas Altobelli album without some darkness. "Painted Aeroplanes" tackles the death of his grandfather, "Alabaster" narrates the story of a recently passed individual pleading with his survived lover to find new love, and "Pile of Leaves" is a journey through an autumn afterlife in search for an eternal home.

One of the most peculiar songs of Altobelli's catalog can be found on this album. "Metal Tree" (the only song on the album in a minor key) tells the story of two astronauts whose love for each other is eroding while they struggle to live on the moon's desolate surface. "This song has been in my back pocket for a long time, waiting to be released," Altobelli explains. "I have no idea where this song came from. It is one of those that falls in your lap like a feather. If you don't grab it quickly, it will blow away and be lost forever, or end up on someone else's lap. I was lucky and snatched it up before anyone noticed."

Certainly it is the most varied collection of songs Nicholas Altobelli has recorded, with both light and shade well represented. The search through that minor key will probably never be over but for this trip, Altobelli has made some important discoveries.