Early career In 1970, Nicholson and his band drove to Los Angeles, California. The band won a talent contest at the Palomino Club and met musicians
James Burton,
Red Rhodes and
Clarence White. Afterwards, he formed the bluegrass/folk trio, "The Whitehorse Brothers", playing in Southern California. The group expanded and became "Uncle Jim's Music" and was signed to MCA/Kapp records for two albums. In 1973, Nicholson moved back to Texas and started the rock/country band "Hot Sauce". During this time, he first played with
Delbert McClinton. His friend and bandmate, Jim Ed Norman, recorded Nicholson's song "Jukebox Argument", sung by
Mickey Gilley in the film
Urban Cowboy. He played lead guitar for
Guy Clark during the recording of the album
Better Days.
Mickey Gilley recorded Nicholson's songs "
Your Love Shines Through" and "Ladies Night". During this time, he also played guitar for such artists as
Billy Joe Shaver,
Bobby Bare and
Guy Clark. He achieved his first number 1 hit in 1984 with the song "
That's the Thing About Love", recorded by
Don Williams and "
The Power of Love", recorded by
Charley Pride. He co-wrote a song for
Waylon Jennings called "
Working Without a Net" in 1986. Also that year, he wrote six songs for
T. Graham Brown's debut album and in 1987 the title and five others on his second release,
Brilliant Conversationalist. In 2003, he co-wrote the single "Never Without You" with
Ringo Starr and has collaborated on each of his last five records. In 2008, Nicholson co-wrote the title song, "
Skin Deep", for Buddy Guy, which was number one on the Billboard Blues Chart and Grammy nominated. He co-wrote "The Git Go" with
Billy Joe Shaver for
Willie Nelson's
Band of Brothers album, and co-wrote "It Ain't You" with
Waylon Jennings, as a Ray Benson/Willie Nelson duet. He has co-written songs with many notable songwriters and artists including
Ringo Starr,
Stevie Nicks,
Neil Diamond,
Vince Gill,
Los Lonely Boys,
Jimmy Webb,
Michael McDonald,
Brad Paisley, among others.
Production During his career, Nicholson has produced five projects for
Delbert McClinton, winning Grammys in the Best Contemporary Blues category for the albums "Nothing Personal" in 2001 and "Cost of Living" in 2005. Nicholson has also produced for
Billy Joe Shaver,
The Judds,
Wynonna,
Pam Tillis,
T. Graham Brown and Marcia Ball. ==Awards and recognition==