Dwight & Nicole
4-19-2019
Dwight & Nicole is an American indie-soul band fronted by Dwight Ritcher & Nicole Nelson. Ritcher and Nelson met in Boston when they were both just out of school and cutting their teeth on the local club scene. Sharing a love of classic blues greats like Albert King and Lighting Hopkins, and covering songs by their vocal heroes Mavis Staples, Jimmy Witherspoon and Etta James, they are consumed with writing and honing their own original music.
D & N began performing live as a duo; touring the Northeast and developing a strong fan base, while self-releasing two critically acclaimed albums through crowd funding. Over the next several years they would become well known regionally for their dynamic live shows and well crafted songs; gaining plenty of industry respect with nods for nine Boston Music Awards, seven Boston Pheonix Awards, seven Daysie Awards, and six New England Music Awards.
Ritcher and Nelson both posess powerful natural voices that stop you dead in your tracks. They are captivating performers, multi-instrumentalists, and strong songwriters. Ritcher plays a Gibson Flying V guitar – picking up his first one as a teenager in Long Branch NJ – he has never played anything else. Nelson, a gifted singer & classical violinist from NYC has described the bass as her first real love. She picked it up again in 2015 and has not looked back. The recent addition of powerhouse drummer Ezra Oklan to the band has solidified their sound. They took this combination into the studio in 2017 with spectacular results.
Their 2018 EP “Electric Lights” was recorded live to analog tape with multi-Grammy Award Nominated producer Joel Hamilton (Aaron Neville, The Meters, The Black Keys, Yoko Ono) at Studio G in Brooklyn, NY. They have just self released two singles – the shimmering soul-anthem “Wait” and the dusty rocker “Hi-Lo” ahead of the EP, which have begun to introduce their music to a whole new wave of listeners. The release has also just landed D & N their first major label distribution deal through Orchard / Sony Music, and an Independent Music Award nomination.
“Take R&B, soul, blues and jazz, mix in razor-sharp rock guitar... heat to boiling, and watch your face melt. That's Dwight & Nicole.” Relix Magazine
“Dwight & Nicole are a tour-de-force that demand much wider success. Poignant, hard driving... and heavenly.” Steve Morse, Boston Globe
“It was a happy day for music when Dwight Ritcher and Nicole Nelson got together. The artists became Dwight & Nicole, and have garnered fans including Maya Angelou with a sound that melds blues, soul, folk, rock, and jazz.” Milva DiDomizio, The Boston Globe
“There are good voices and then there are great voices. Nicole Nelson is definitely the latter.” Christina Aguilara, The Voice
Dwight & Nicole is an American indie-soul band fronted by Dwight Ritcher & Nicole Nelson. Ritcher and Nelson met in Boston when they were both just out of school and cutting their teeth on the local club scene. Sharing a love of classic blues greats like Albert King and Lighting Hopkins, and covering songs by their vocal heroes Mavis Staples, Jimmy Witherspoon and Etta James, they are consumed with writing and honing their own original music.
D & N began performing live as a duo; touring the Northeast and developing a strong fan base, while self-releasing two critically acclaimed albums through crowd funding. Over the next several years they would become well known regionally for their dynamic live shows and well crafted songs; gaining plenty of industry respect with nods for nine Boston Music Awards, seven Boston Pheonix Awards, seven Daysie Awards, and six New England Music Awards.
Ritcher and Nelson both posess powerful natural voices that stop you dead in your tracks. They are captivating performers, multi-instrumentalists, and strong songwriters. Ritcher plays a Gibson Flying V guitar – picking up his first one as a teenager in Long Branch NJ – he has never played anything else. Nelson, a gifted singer & classical violinist from NYC has described the bass as her first real love. She picked it up again in 2015 and has not looked back. The recent addition of powerhouse drummer Ezra Oklan to the band has solidified their sound. They took this combination into the studio in 2017 with spectacular results.
Their 2018 EP “Electric Lights” was recorded live to analog tape with multi-Grammy Award Nominated producer Joel Hamilton (Aaron Neville, The Meters, The Black Keys, Yoko Ono) at Studio G in Brooklyn, NY. They have just self released two singles – the shimmering soul-anthem “Wait” and the dusty rocker “Hi-Lo” ahead of the EP, which have begun to introduce their music to a whole new wave of listeners. The release has also just landed D & N their first major label distribution deal through Orchard / Sony Music, and an Independent Music Award nomination.
“Take R&B, soul, blues and jazz, mix in razor-sharp rock guitar... heat to boiling, and watch your face melt. That's Dwight & Nicole.” Relix Magazine
“Dwight & Nicole are a tour-de-force that demand much wider success. Poignant, hard driving... and heavenly.” Steve Morse, Boston Globe
“It was a happy day for music when Dwight Ritcher and Nicole Nelson got together. The artists became Dwight & Nicole, and have garnered fans including Maya Angelou with a sound that melds blues, soul, folk, rock, and jazz.” Milva DiDomizio, The Boston Globe
“There are good voices and then there are great voices. Nicole Nelson is definitely the latter.” Christina Aguilara, The Voice