Cast Iron Shoes is a fiddle-driven western folk band from Texas and a must-see live act showcasing an energized retro sound, brilliant songwriting, fantastic musicianship, and a huge body of original music that speaks to the heart of the underdog.
Fronted by singer/songwriter and badass fiddle player Nicole Ridgwell, the band wins crowds hearts by articulating the rebellious point of view of vintage loving audiences uninspired by mainstream music.
Their high energy live performances feature a wide range of instrumentation- Nicole switches between fiddle, guitar, and mandolin with incredibly tight musicianship. She also performs with a high level of respect for her fans who love to dance, writing genre bending songs that range from two-stepping Texas swing, to swampy blues, to southern rock anthems, to sensitive acoustic ballads; drawing on Western, Folk, Rock n Roll, Celtic, Bluegrass, and Alt Country influences.
Nicole is a multi-instrumentalist with a happy aura, who spent years in bands and film industry jobs as a support artist, unable to be creative. Now she’s started her own damn band! Her melodies make you want to sing along, and her lyrics are a journey to listen to, drawing on her experience working in Hollywood writing and animating films and working for big studios like Pixar. She knows how to tell character-based stories about real people who go on epic journeys of the heart, searching for their joy. But she tells them her own way, often with the female point of view which is frequently missing.
Raised in the west and currently based in Texas hill country, Ridgwell was brought up on her hippy mom’s soft folk and her biker dad’s blues and rock. Bikers and Hippies don’t usually get married, so she was also brought up on a good dose of heartbreak, with a rebellious streak and a dislike for situations that make her feel trapped. She started touring across the country as a child, traveling abroad with various bands playing fiddle, singing, and writing songs on her acoustic guitar. She has released several records with numerous bands over the past two decades whilst extensively touring as a supporting musician, opening for acts such as Emmylou Harris, the Brothers Comatose, and Lost Dog Street Band.
When the pandemic hit she left her jobs playing fiddle and working in the film industry in California and began to call herself Cast Iron Shoes, singing troubadour style from South Carolina to Switzerland, perfecting her broad repertoire of original songs. It was a terrifying choice to uproot and leave her home, career, and friends, and this decision to run away from the life she built informs her songwriting, which speaks to people who need to dig themselves out or run away from abusive situations.
Cast Iron Shoes is recording a full album of original music between two studios in Austin TX and Portland, OR, due to be released in 2024.
Follow us on social media or spotify for new music and show dates, OR IF YOU HATE SOCIAL MEDIA you can just join the mailing list and defeat the algorithm. We’re about to release a bunch of awesome new songs. :)
Band Members:
Nicole Ridgwell - vox, guitar, fiddle, songs
Joel Greenberg - bass
Jay Pink - drums
Lead Guitar, Keyboards, and other cool instruments are a rotating cast of Austin’s talented pool of live musicians.
