Page 12 - BiTS_05_MAY_2023

NICK SCHNEBELEN – IN THE KEY OF HARD BLUE

By Lawrence Lebo

Missouri native guitarist/singer/songwriter Nick Schnebelen was
always destined to be in the music business. He comes from a long
family line of professional entertainers. On his father’s side, his
great-grandfather and great-grandmother were in the same
string band in Kansas City in the 1920’s called the Silver String
Sextet. They also had a radio show. On his mother’s side, his
grandmother Evelyn Skinner had her own big band and got to
sing with Count Basie and be a part of the Kansas City music
scene in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Before that, the family had several
violinists who were popular in Eastern Europe. Both Nick’s
parents were professional musicians. Their band, Little Eva
And The Works, played in blues clubs, honky tonks, jazz clubs
and at festivals across the Midwest. So, it’s no
surprise that Nick, his sister/bassist Danielle
Nicole, and his brother Kris would form the
successful IBC award winning Kansas City
blues trio Trampled Under Foot. The group
went their separate ways in 2016 and Nick
went on to record his own music on the
VizzTone label.

Nick Schnebelen’s fourth release titled
What Key Is Trouble In? is high-energy
rockin’ blues. The album contains 13
tracks all written or co-written by Nick.
Having spent a few years in the “get-the-
audience-ready” opening act spot on the
road with George Thorogood And The
Destroyers, Nick has honed the art of “Let’s
party” blues. As such, the album opens
with (also the album’s video) ‘Ten Years
After, Fifty Years Later’. The tune pays
homage to Alvin Lee and the 50-year
anniversary of the Woodstock
performance of English blues-rock band
Ten Years After’s tune ‘I’m Goin’ Home’. If
you’re up for top-notch musicianship and party
down blues, I highly recommend “What Key Is Trouble In?”

I asked Nick Schnebelen to me about his life and career. This is what he told me..........

LL: Where did you grow up and what was it like there please?

NS: Born in Kansas City, Missouri, my siblings and I grew up in Rich Hill, MO, a small rural
community about 70 miles south of Kansas City. It definitely was a more country lifestyle. The
big event every year was the 4th of July fireworks show alongside a small carnival everyone in
the surrounding counties looked forward to. We rode our bikes on trails in the woods, dirt roads,
played baseball and fished for crawdaddies, it was a really safe place growing up to be able to be
outside on our bikes with friends.