Nick Stockton: You Made Me Leave – The LA Demos
Reviewed by Harry Kaplan
The idea that quantum theory suggests time is not linear means time is not a single, straight line moving from past to future, but may be a more complex, multi-dimensional landscape where past, present, and future are interconnected or can coexist. You Made Me Leave – The LA Demos by Nick Stockton may be the proof of this theorem. After giving this a few listens, I am firmly convinced that time is not linear or Nick has a time machine in his basement. If you told me that this album was written and recorded in 1959, I would believe you. There is nothing, other than the recording quality that would indicate that this collection was from 2025. It is authentic and genuine as possible and although conforms to old standards, sounds completely fresh and relevant today.
The Bakersfield sound is alive and well on this EP with pedal steel and telecaster licks that take me to a smoky honky tonk with loud loud music in the California desert. We must never forget Hank Williams, Buck Owens, George Jones, and The Everly Brothers and it sure appears that Nick Stockton agrees with me. I hear elements of George’s warble in Nick’s voice, the high register vocals of Buck, the cadence of Hank Williams, and the beautiful Everly harmonies all throughout this release.
Mistakes Have Been Made showcase all three legendary acts while still pushing the envelope forward and elevating this song and the genre. A wonderful number that mixes classic country, honky tonk, and rockabilly to create a masterful song that compares gambling with money to gambling with affairs of the heart. Nick may not be a great gambler, but when it comes to wagering with the old heartstrings, Nick is undefeated – or so he claims. Expertly written and recorded and mixes intelligent lyrics with rowdy twang to create a country music masterpiece. This could be directly out of the George Jones catalogue, but alas, it was written and recorded by Nick Stockton.
As I have stated in the past, no credible authentic country album would be complete without a train song. Nick is all aboard on Move Freight Train which is a tale about a man who is catching a train home to see his love, but he is running out of time and needs that train to move a little more rapidly down the track. Nick is speaking metaphorically, where the train represents obstacles in a relationship that seem almost unmovable. In this sad story, the man is too late and his love has already left. He knows it, but he is still compelled to make one last ditch effort to save the relationship.
There is a particular chord structure and synergy of the pedal steel and the “Telly” in certain songs that take me to a magical place. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does you can almost feel yourself being transported. You Made Me Leave is one of those songs. That ten second intro before Nick starts singing in his “Hank” style is pure magic. There’s no other way to describe it. It’s about, you guess it, a relationship gone awry. But this time there is some pushback, similar to the Hank Williams song You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave).
If there is one beef about this collection, it is the length. Yes, it is too short. Clocking in at around 20 minutes is not enough honky tonk for me. This could have gone another 40 minutes and my complaint would still be the same. In fact, with songs this good and true to the genre, no amount of songs or length of time would be sufficient. I guess we need to be thankful for what is and not for what could have been.
Listen and buy You Made Me Leave: The LA Demos here