Leigh Nash’s story

Posted by Flick in Artist Review on 08 24th, 2006 | no responses |

Former Sixpence None The Richer vocalist, Leigh Nash, has a solo album out called Blue on Blue. She is touring with Jars of Clay in October to suppport the new release. The album first hit the stores August 15 with a music video for My Idea of Heaven.

Leigh (Bingham) Nash first joined Sixpence at the age of 14 with Matt Slocum. Matt was the same age, whose instrument of choice was the cello. Their debut album Fatherless And The Widow was released nationally by their label, REX, when Leigh was 16. I remember picking up this album, being amazed that someone could have an album out that young (I was 16 at the time).

Sixpence turned rock and released a great album called This Beautiful Mess. Tess Wiley had joined them on guitar, Dale Baker on drums, and J.J. Plascencio on bass. They had a following and everything looked up for them. They were edgy, their sound was beautiful and becoming.

Tickets For A Prayer Wheel followed This Beautiful Mess, a phenominal EP that spun on repeat in my player. I couldn’t wait for their next album, and the band couldn’t either.

Two years went by and I started to hear about the trouble the band was in. REX had gone under and had sold their label in 1995, leaving Sixpence’s contract in limbo. Seeing that it’s difficult to honor a contract to a record label that doesn’t exist, Sixpence naturally began to look around for a new label. Standing in their way was REX, saying that they were still bound to them. A legal battle ensued and Tess Wiley left the band out of frustration, and Sixpence nearly came to an end.

Leigh Bingham, Matt Slocum, and Dale Baker began to write material for a new album, courting the ideas with Steve Taylor. Knowing that they couldn’t record anything until the mess with REX had been solved, the undertones of their struggles shone through the songs they were writing:

This is my forty fifth depressing tune.
They’re looking for money as they clean my artistic womb.
And when I give birth to the child I must take to flight
‘Cause the black in our pocket won’t let us fight a proper fight.
So hey baby can you shed some light on the problem maybe?
‘Cause we’re all tired and we’d like to know
If we should pack our tents shut down the show.
Yes we should like to see a burning bush-type sign.
But anything would be fine.
We’re all told to dance but we never picked the tune.
Hanging like puppets they feed us from bent steel spoons.
But we’re sealing our lips for the someday when the needle and the vinyl play
All the songs of the pain, songs that explain all our circles and strains.

Two years later, in 1997, Sixpence won their battle to continue on under their own name. Steve Taylor formed a record label, Squint, and they recorded/released the self-titled album. Leigh married Mark Nash, drummer for a band called PFR (Pray for Rain), after meeting at Cornerstone Festival. Around this time I had started Puddlegum with my friend, and my college roommate (Josh Smith) designed the web graphics. My response to the Sixpence album was that it was the best album ever released in the Christian market.

One year after the album had been in people’s hands, the pop-sensation Kiss Me was licensed to the popular show Dawson’s Creek. Kiss Me was then licensed to several movie soundtracks and became the #1 most-played song in 1999. The band was nominated for a Grammy that year, though the album had already been out for two years.

My emotions were mixed over the success of Kiss Me. I felt that it didn’t fully represent the band I had followed. Yet I was excited about their success, watching them perform on the Today Show and all the late-night gigs. Many of their fans had given up on them by this point, disappointed that an edgy alternative band had become a pop icon.

Under the weight of this success, their record label, Squint, was actually loosing money. Other bands were signed, such as Chevelle, yet the label struggled. People were buying the movie soundtracks with the Kiss Me single instead of the album. Squint was sold, bought back, and sold again.

Sixpence released the cover There She Goes to keep the momentum while they waited out the record label mess. Once again they found themselves in a contractual bind with a record label they hadn’t signed with. Sixpence waited while they fought to be released from their contract.

In 2001 Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum signed a contract with Reprise Records (owned by Word Entertainment). Reprise would only sign the two original artists, excluding Dale Baker from the royalties. Dale left the band and they brought in artists to fill in. Divine Discontent was released in 2002, with the singles Breathe Your Name and Don’t Dream It’s Over. In 2004 Sixpence announced they were breaking up, after having been together for 13 years.

Matt Slocum formed a band called Astronaut Pushers, a collaboration which is currently on hold. He also founded East Nashville Center For The Creative Arts, a nonprofit classical arts school. He recently acquired a recording studio in East Nashville.

Tess Wiley married a man from Germany and relocated there. She has released solo albums, the latest titled Not Quite Me, which was release in 2004. Dale Baker is a studio drummer, available for hire.

Leigh and her husband, Mark Nash, relocated to LA and had a son named Henry. They began writing songs for Leigh’s solo album, compiling over 30 songs to select from. They formed a record label, One Son Records, to have total control of Leigh’s contractual affairs.

Leigh Nash, now 30, has her first solo album Blue on Blue, which hit the shelves on August 15. She is touring with Jars of Clay, starting in October to support the new release. The fist single is for the song My Idea of Heaven, with a music video: Leigh Nash – My Idea of Heaven.

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