Lee Roy Parnell, the Texas-born and -bred country hit maker with an ornery streak of southern rock ‘n' soul in his system, has recently released his first new album in four years, tellingly titled Back To The Well (Universal South).

The project finds Parnell embracing the country blues/roadhouse rock/southern rock 'n' soul that has been his stock in trade since playing the Austin club circuit in the early '70s with fellow Lone Star giants-in-training Joe Ely, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Delbert McClinton.

After a brief stint in New York as a member of Kinky Friedman's Texas Jewboys, Lee Roy -- at the urging of his cousin, Robert Earl Keen, and friend Lyle Lovett -- moved to Nashville in 1987 to pursue his songwriting.

The next year he was signed to the newly formed Arista Nashville label, eventually creating five studio albums yielding 11 Top 10 singles ("A Little Bit Of You," "Love Without Mercy," "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am," "Tender Moment," among them). After departing Arista during a 1998 label shakeup, Lee Roy resurfaced with Tell The Truth on the respected Vanguard label.

http://www.leeroyparnell.com

A native of Garland, Texas, songwriter/producer/performer Gary Nicholson played guitar in various bands starting at age 14. After pursuing a degree in music at North Texas State University, Gary made the move to Los Angeles and began his recording career with two albums of his own songs. His band included future Music Row executive Jim Ed Norman, who would later invite Gary to Nashville to write songs for his publishing company. In 1983, Gary signed with Sony/ATV Tree publishing and was a staff writer there for 15 years before launching his own publishing house. More than 350 Nicholson songs have been recorded by a musical "who's who" in the country, blues, pop/rock, folk and bluegrass genres: George Jones, Patty Loveless, B. B. King, Keb Mo, Bonnie Raitt, Fleetwood Mac, Robert Plant, Vince Gill, Ringo Starr and Garth Brooks. Gary has participated in songwriting trips to Romania, Bali, Ireland, and Cuba with other well known songwriters as part of Music Bridges, a cultural exchange with musicians of those countries. He has earned 26 ASCAP awards as writer and publisher, and has taught songwriting workshops for ASCAP and Berklee School of Music.

http://www.garynicholson.com

One of the architects of the famed Muscle Shoals Sound, songwriter Donnie Fritts also enjoyed success as a longtime associate of Kris Kristofferson. A native of Florence, Alabama, as a teen Fritts played drums with local acts like the Satellites and Hollis Dixon; by the late 1950s, he was writing and performing with the likes of Arthur Alexander, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, all of them joining forces to forge the unique fusion of Southern soul, pop, country and R&B immediately recognizable as the Muscle Shoals Sound. Fritts' early songs were recorded by performers as diverse as Percy Sledge, Dusty Springfield, the Box Tops and Tommy Roe; by the late 1960s, he was employed as a Nashville staff writer, often working alongside fellow up-and-comer Kristofferson. Beginning in 1970, Fritts was Kristofferson's touring keyboardist, and they even appeared together in films including Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and A Star Is Born. His solo releases include Prone to Lean (1974) and Everybody's Got a Song (1997), which included new renditions of his classics "We Had It All" and "A Damn Good Country Song" recorded with guests including Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and Delbert McClinton.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll