The soulful folk artist has a powerful new single, showcased for Local Spins, which also debuted tracks by May Erlewine, Mar in Color, JR Band, Hannah Laine and more.
Influenced by James Taylor, Robert Johnson and Jason Mraz: Nick Veine (Courtesy Photo)
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For Traverse City singer and guitarist Nick Veine, exploring the passion, messaging and “everyman” musical approach of the historically significant Delta blues has inspired his own music as of late.
“I really love the blues in general. I think that it’s one of the most authentic expressions of human emotion,” said Veine, who’s studied music in many forms for years, having earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and a master’s from Nashville’s Belmont University.
“You can play hundreds of blues songs and you can make simple variations that make it sound a lot different. Those are the songs that draw me a lot.”
The Latest Single: “Revelation Blues”
Tied to African-American history and the civil rights movement, much of blues music was “created by a marginalized group of people, and that’s their way of expressing their emotions and their feelings and their beliefs,” he added.
Consequently, Veine’s latest single, “Revelation Blues,” embraces that sort of expression as a commentary on “the more hateful beliefs in politics” while unfurling as a raw and muscular slice of acoustic country blues propelled by slide guitar.
“I think that as a musician as an artist, it’s kind of our job to challenge the status quo, to make people uncomfortable and to put our beliefs out there in the hopes that others will follow in our footsteps and make some real change,” said Veine, who also teaches guitar, piano and several other instruments as part of his “student-centered curriculum.”
MORE SINGLES TO COME FROM THE ‘COMMUNITY-ORIENTED’ FOLK MUSICIAN
Veine, 29, who grew up in Manistee and started playing guitar at age 10, has embraced the northern Michigan music scene while playing regularly across the region, as well as recording and performing occasionally with fellow balladeer and Traverse City native Ben Traverse.
“Community-oriented folk is very indicative of the scene up here in general,” he offered. “That kind of music definitely is a microcosm of what’s going on in Traverse City and the northern Michigan folk scene, in general.”
Veine: He’ll play the Indoor Folk Fest. (Courtesy Photo)
As part of that, Veine will perform during the Great Indoor Folk Festival that takes place in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons on Feb. 23 – a unique, one-day event featuring performances by more than 75 Michigan musicians and singers on several different stages. Veine plays the Louan Lechler New Folk Stage in Building 50 at 1 p.m. that Sunday. (View a preview and schedule online here.)
“You can walk all throughout this building and hear … vastly different music from smaller stages to just really against the wall to inside the coffee shop,” he noted. “It’s just a very cool community event … and a really cool way to support the community of Traverse, the artists of Traverse, and just have a fun afternoon.”
Of course, Veine – influenced by the likes of James Taylor, Robert Johnson, Jason Mraz, Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke – has much more on tap for 2025, with plans for recording and releasing more singles, including “some original tunes and some blues tunes and spiritual tunes.”
“Everything I’ve got is an interesting kind of combination of jazz and blues, of folk, bluegrass, some Celtic music,” he said. “Just a little bit of everything that I hear makes its way into the music somehow.”
For this week’s episode of Local Spins on WYCE which spotlights Michigan-bred artists at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE 88.1 FM and online at wyce.org – Veine showcased his latest single as well as a live acoustic rendition of “My Therapist Thinks You’re Crazy,” which he submitted to the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest hosted by National Public Radio.
Listen to the songs and the interview below as part of the show, which also featured the latest music from May Erlewine, Joey Nadon, Ben Traverse, The JR Band, Griff Paws, Hannah Laine, Ribbons of Song, Mar in Color/TechTonic and Joshua Davis.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (2/14/25)
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