Listen Up: Nick Pagliari

Listen Up: Nick Pagliari

Carl's Revenge

Photo by Michael Donahue

Nick Pagliari

What did Nick Pagliari want his second full-length album, Please and Thank You, to be?

“I just wanted it to be better,” he said. “Not to say there was anything wrong (with the first CD, The Sail), I just think every time you go in the studio it’s a learning process.”

Pagliari, a native Memphian now living in Columbia, S. C., began working on the CD in May, 2007. “It’s kind of been the same for both albums. I’ll go in and cut three or four songs. Then I’ll write some more songs, come back six months later and record three or four.”

He recorded the album in Memphis at 747 Studios, with himself, Scott Hardin and Jamie Dick as producers. The album features Pagliari on vocals and guitar, Dick on drums and Grayson Grant on bass.

Three of the songs were mixed at Ardent Recording Studios.

Some of Pagliari’s subject matter is a departure from the last album.

“The Union Infantry,” a Civil War song, is based on a battle, Brice’s Crossroad, near Tupelo led by Nathan Bedford Forest. “It’s one of his more notorious battles. He basically defeated the Union soldiers. I had read a book on it and was inspired to write a little song. It’s got a very ‘The Band’ kind of feel to it — ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.’’’

“Carl’s Revenge” is about drug abuse. “I was just kind of seeing this friend of mine get messed up with that whole thing. I felt if I write that song it might open up his eyes. He knew exactly what that song was about when he heard it. I actually think it did some good.”

The new album also includes love songs, including “Don’t Wanna Die Lonely.” “It’s about a guy who’s a little bit more troubled. He can’t figure it out as far as romance goes. He’s like everybody else.”

A line in the song is, “I don’t mind living alone, but I just don’t want to die lonely.”

Pagliari wrote “Romantic Picture Shows” for his fiance, Kara Simonton. “The ending in every romantic picture show is always the happy ending and the guy gets the girl. Old movies type stuff — that’s what the thought process was with that one.”

Pagliari, who moved to Columbia when Simonton was transferred because of her job, spends a lot of time booking shows and promoting the new album.

He’s already thinking about his next CD. “I’m thinking of recording it at Ardent.”

While mixing the Please and Thank You songs at Ardent, Pagliari and Jamie Dick noticed both of his CDs on a drum kit belonging to Jody Stephens, drummer for Big Star and Golden Smog and Ardent Studios manager. “He was practicing to my album. Jamie and I looked at each other: ‘Wow, this is awesome.’

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

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