Ricus Nel

With an arsenal of instruments at his disposal—he’s mastered 13, to be exact—South African songwriter Ricus Nel has built a well-crafted catalogue of country music that also dips into pop and rock. Born in 1979, Nel released his first full-length album, Sak En Pak, in 2011. The debut touched on classic country (“Some Broken Hearts Never Mend”) and soaring rock (“Sak en Pak”), and even featured a tender duet with his future wife, fellow songwriter Liza Bronner (“The Hard Way”). Singing in both his native Afrikaans and English, Nel’s songwriting is affecting in either language, as proven on tracks like the uplifting “Spyt Kom Te Laat” from his 2014 second album, Sout Van Die Aarde. That same year, he also proved himself a deft hand at interpreting the classics with Sing Don Williams & Ander Country legendes, offering up a shuffling take on Williams’ “I Recall a Gypsy Woman”. In 2021, he released Ploeg Jy?, kicking off the record with a heavily rhythmic, twangy title track that marries his rootsy and pop tendencies.