“What can I say? I love sad songs,” confesses singer/songwriter/mandolinist Darren Nicholson. “I have since I was a small child. In an odd way, sad songs bring me comfort and happiness.” That sentiment has driven decades’ worth of country songs, so it’s no surprise that “Windows Have Pains,” his newest single for Mountain Home Music Company, walks straight down the country side of the bluegrass street from the moment that labelmate and award-winning fiddler Deanie Richardson kicks off the mournful ballad.

“This is one of my favorite cuts of my entire recording career,” says Darren Nicholson — and when an artist with a decades-long resumé like his says something like that, it’s worth taking note.

Though it has all the trappings and spirit of a well-worn bootlegging story of corn liquor and moonshiners (think “Mountain Dew,” “White Lightning” or “Dooley”), Darren Nicholson’s first single of the new year digs a little deeper than its upbeat, elemental bluegrass feel might at first suggest.

Since late last year, singer, songwriter and mandolinist Darren Nicholson has been revving up his solo career after his departure from Balsam Range, the award-winning quintet he helped to found some 15 years ago. Now, following the release of three singles — a chart-topping murder ballad, a spirited gospel number and a gripping instrumental, all self-penned — he's releasing Wanderer, an album that puts an exclamation point on his musical declaration of independence.

Hot on the heels of his chart-topping single, “Arkansas Without You,” and the uplifting message of his “Leave It In The Hands of the Lord,” Darren Nicholson returns to complete a bluegrass trifecta of sorts — murder ballad, gospel song and instrumental — with a sly instrumental, “Dillsboro Blues,” serving up a healthy dose of virtuosity in a package that puts a few neat curves into an otherwise straightforward musical road.  

Mountain Home Music Company’s Darren Nicholson is a man on a mission — and if you think, based on his membership in award-winning bluegrass quintet Balsam Range, that you know what it is, his new EP is going to come as a mighty big surprise.