Nicholas James
myspace.com/nicholasjamesthomasma

Academic Audio
myspace.com/academicaudio

"I've got a new puppy here. She jumps..." said Academic Audio Studio Owner Greg Baxter as I entered his studio and was immediately loved to death by a darling rescued dog named August.

After a brief tour of the under-construction studio, meeting a couple of beautiful microphones and singer/songwriter Nicholas James Thomasma, we got down to business of discussing the new album by Thomasma.

"Mostly the record will be centered on me and the guitar, and there's like six or seven more musicians involved in the recording," said Thomasma. "It doesn't sound like a traditional bluegrass record - it wasn't recorded in a barn by the river with one microphone, so in that sense it's modern. Also some of the lyrical content is more modern, but it's all roots music. It's a folk record for sure."

But Thomasma didn't start out like a normal musician, knowing he wanted to play music. He actually went the opposite direction.
"I worked as a radio DJ for years and that's how I got exposed to a lot of bands,"

Thomasma said. "One day I was like, ‘I'm on the wrong side of this [mixing] board.' I got a guitar and taught myself to play. My dad was a guitar player and my grandmother's a pianist, so there's a lot of musical background in my family, and it just made sense."

From there, he made the most of his involvement in the Michigan scene by bringing in top shelf musicians he's met over recent years to collaborate various projects.

"I've been really blessed in my musical career. I've never been able to find a band that will stick around, but everybody I meet wants to play with me, so everywhere I go I have musicians."

Starting with a list of nearly 20 songs and whittling them down to 13 or so solid tracks, Thomasma and Baxter have been taking what some would call a leisurely pace in putting the record together.

"Work will take the space you give it. If you have a week to make a record, it will take a week. If you have a month, it will take a month," said Baxter.
Baxter, a musician himself, has recently taken the role of the recording engineer, working with artists like Karisa Wilson and Ralston Bowles.
Look for the disc, complete with cover art by a local printmaker Alynn Guererra, to come out in February or March - see myspace.com/nicholasjamesthomasma for details.