York—we had done what we had to do
there. And it was a beautiful time there,
and the hustle that we learned there. But it
was time for us to go, and we’ve never
looked back since then. The song
writers and the artists that we are
today—individually and together—
is because we were patient with it
and kept at it. And we looked at the
whole thing as a career, rather than
one moment and one opportunity.
We have a lot of confidence in
ourselves as singers and artists and
what we do—and we don’t have
regrets for the choices that we made.
Jewelry made by Nicole
Sherman: That’s the goal, right? No re-
grets. Let’s talk a little bit more about your
life in Vermont. You live in this really cool
old shoe factory, right?
Nelson: Sure, do.
Sherman: Ok. And you’re playing a lot
of gigs and you’re working on your next
album. Tell me about it.
Nelson: Okay, so the most recent thing is
actually an E.P. and it’s with me playing
bass and Dwight playing guitar and both
of us singing lead. And we have a drum-
mer, so we have like a power trio thing
going on. We are in the middle of record-
ing actually—finishing recording our first
full-length album as the trio with Joel
Hamilton. He did the E.P. with us.
Sherman: Joel Hamilton is a big deal. Who
are some of the artists he has produced?
Ritcher: Black Keys. Aaron Neville.
Nelson: The Meters. Yoko Ono.
Ritcher: Pretty Lights.
Nelson: Pretty Lights. They are huge right
now. Joel’s a great guy, and he’s brilliant.
Ritcher: He believes in us and we have
a lot of fun making music together. And
we’ve got a cool van now, thanks to
Melissa Etheridge. She invited us on a
music cruise.
Sherman: You’ve also opened for Norah
Jones, correct?
Ritcher: She’s a great example of some-
body that will be stage left every night. If
the show is at nine, she is there at 8:57.
Every night. She has the flu, [she is still
there at] 8:57. She’s always on time before
her set starts.
Sherman: And where do you think you’re
going to next? Nicole, you are all about the
Comsos. What do you see in the stars?
Dwight, N
icole + M
elisa Ethe
ridge
Nelson: I love this question! … Definitely
more studio time.
Sherman: I see that in your future.
42 VERMONT MAGAZINE