CC Nichols - Hell on the Potomac (2025)

CC Nichols’ new album Hell on the Potomac embodies a layered Appachian sound. Conceptually, this is a concept album with a focus of a particular sort: one about a West Virginian small town in its space and place. It’s a town just across the Potomac River from Cumberland, Maryland, which is way out on the Western edge of the state, out where it meets West Virginia. The songs shift focus in turns on family, work, the sunny side, the darker side, and overall the contradictions found in living there.

“Angry Stranger” starts out the album as a country barn dance number with a confession about not being able to keep your thoughts to yourself: “I need to keep my mouth shut, no one really cares what the hell I say, the thoughts rollin’ round in my mind, never come out the right way.” “Other People” is about the over saturation point we reach with all the bad news: “None of it impacts me and I’m not sorry, Bad shit happens to other people and I’m gonna do as I please.”

The title track takes a lower, more sinister tone with a baritone guitar feel and touches of banjo. Something dark indeed has gone down, as it’s “hell on the Potomac and two young boys are dead” after skipping school and causing all kinds of trouble. A recipe for disaster.

“Wasting Time” is a fiddle-centric old timey country number as it outlines thoughts of getting away from the demoralizing grip of working 9 to 5 or more: “I’m just wasting time, wasting time, trying to hold on to my prime. Maybe tomorrow holds my dreams.” Amen.

Closing out the album is the irresistible “We Got Naked on New Year’s Eve” and it’s all about the fun, and the regrets: “Eight shots of Jack at the basement bar, dancing around like superstars, making promises that we can’t keep. We really should just go to sleep.” A tongue -in cheeky harmony duet with Julie Nichols adds an interesting twist on this one.

Although these 10 songs focus on the stories of one place along the Potomac River, the songs are universally relatable through that filter, and catchy to boot. It’s a little bit honky tonk, a little bit old timey country, with head nodding rhythms and lyrics that relate.

The vocals could be up front more in the mix, to my ear anyway. But this is a solidly good time all the way through, played with rich layers telling tales of country struggles and escapades.