Award-winning songwriter James Nihan will present songs of spirit in an intimate concert at 7 p.m. Fri., Jan. 30 at Unity of the Oaks, 1414 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Ste. 113, Thousand Oaks.

This concert is part of a 10-day tour between San Luis Obispo and San Diego.

The suggested offering is $10.

Nihan was voted Songwriter of the Year by the Tennessee Songwriters Association in 1990. His song "I Can See Arkansas" was a Top 10 single for Anne Murray.

His songs have been performed on Austin City Limits, Regis Philbin and the Grand Ole Opry. He has taught songwriting to children at the Country Music Hall of Fame for two decades.

Nihan walked away from the music business for several years but changed his life at a seminar in New York led by Miguel Ruiz, author of "The Four Agreements."

"After writing hundreds of songs about broken hearts and life's hardships, I decided to focus on love and life's beauty," said Nihan. He has since released three CDs.

Nihan's song "Seeds of Light" is the title inclusion of the recent Unity Church New Thought songbook. He recently lent his voice to a documentary on the Inupiat tribe of Barrow, Alaska.

His song "This Land is Not Our Land" will soon be featured in a musical play on the life of Nancy Ward, last "beloved woman" of the Cherokee.

In recent years, he has joined his wife, therapist Dawn Zurlinden, working in the field of addictions and mood disorders.

Nihan uses poetry and music to encourage self-expression and healing. His own recovery from addictions was featured in a book released in 1980 by the Rutger's Center for Alcohol Studies.