Nick Gaitan is a bassist, songwriter, bandleader, side man, and a native son of Houston, TX. Growing up in the working class East End of the city, he absorbed musical influences that ranged from Tejano to Country, Swamp Pop to Rock n’ Roll, and Soul music in its many varieties and iterations. A long time member of Houston band Los Skarnales, Gaitan was central to the evolution of their sound known and referred to by fans as the “Pachuco Boogie Sound System” years. Upon leaving Los Skarnales, Gaitan would go on to form and lead Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, releasing 2 full length albums – the 2009 self-titled release and 2012’s Bridges and Bayous.
Throughout his musical career he’s performed on stages across the North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. In the Fall of 2008, Gaitan was picked up by Country Music hall-of-famer, songwriter and legend, Billy Joe Shaver. For the next several years and during his time with Shaver’s band, Gaitan performed live on The Late Show with David Letterman, several of Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July picnics, several Farm Aid concerts, and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. He has continued his international touring activity playing bass with Blues/Soul/Rock singer Nikki Hill.
Many consider Gaitan’s sound to be all “Houston,” personifying in his music and his career the city’s gritty, multicultural, working class, Gulf Coast personality. Few artists, indeed, can claimed to be named Best Bassist, Best Local Musician and member of the Best Roots Rock (Houston Press) over the course of his or her career. But that versatility is characteristic of Gaitan’s ritual to the regional music he celebrates – “a mix of roots rock, swamp pop, blues and Tex-Mex Conjunto,” as described by Jim Beal Jr. of The San Antonio Express.
While touring regularly, Gaitan’s current personal project Tune Parlour produces a unique showcase of “Tejas Roots” performers, DJs, and musicians several times a year. His passion for regional history and roots is inspired also by exploring and bridging gaps between the Houston of yesterday and today through literature, architecture, creative writing through story and song, and interviewing the people who lived it and created it.