Nick Stockton

Nick Stockton

Nick Stockton’s latest release, “Martinis & Dexedrine,” finds the native Californian singer/songwriter exploring a gentler, yet darker sound inspired as much by Laurel Canyon-style folk as it is the boozy classic honky tonk of past releases.

 Recorded in San Francisco, “Martinis” finds the singer reuniting with some former Midnight Sons bandmates as well as a handful of other fellow 2010s SF garage rock scene denizens. But make no mistake— the track bears little resemblance to the jangling drunken anthems of those days.

Instead: a lilting country waltz where barroom piano meets warbling harmonica, bolstered by a two-stepping Spanish guitar. Soaring harmonies paired with Stockton’s measured croon evoke the haunted, crumbling California cityscapes and desolate country highways that serve as the songwriter’s inspiration.

“Martinis and Dexedrine” is an LA story sung by a Bay Area boy a long way from home, at once an excoriation of showbiz culture and an elegy for the souls it devours. Drink up, but not too much — it’s an intoxicating cocktail.