Nikki Lane

One Liner: "First Lady of Outlaw Country"

Wikipedia Genre: Outlaw country, Americana

Home: Nashville (but originally from Greenville, SC)

Poster Position: Small Type 
Saturday.

Thoughts:  Lane came to ACL in 2014, and I actually wrote a review of her back then, among some of my first ever reviews on this blog.  I'll let you read that gem before we look at some more recent things:

"You know what, actually pretty damn good.  Does for old school country women what Amy Winehouse did for old school soul.  Reverb-heavy rockabilly with a slightly modified singing voice.  Most popular song on Spotify is "Gone Gone Gone."  

Love the way the ACL lineups can hide a solid gem 23 lines down in the poster.  Never heard of this girl at all, and yet she is awesome.  That song above was from her first album, but she just released a new one in 2014 that was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.  It is an awesome sound - kind of like a Neko Case meets Loretta Lynn thing going on.  Check her out on Spotify and enjoy."

Man, I used to be a man of few words in these reviews!  Her top track on Spotify these days is actually a Lana Del Rey song that she appears on.  Her third most popular track is a Dropkick Murphys tune.  She kind of sounds like a singer on one of the songs from a soundtrack.  Natural Born Killers?  Pulp Fiction?  Her top song is actually from that 2014 album that I mentioned above, All Or Nothin', which was produced by Dan Auerbach.  This is "Right Time," with 10.9 million streams.

That abusive boyfriend kinda looks like Ben Burgess, who is also on this poster.  But yeah, a good little rockabilly kind of tune with her raspy voice leading the way.

She was born in South Carolina, and dropped out of high school before moving to LA and then New York City.  She was apparently doing some fashion design, but then a country musician broke up with her, and that experience inspired her to write.  She moved to Nashville and started churning out the jams.  The comparison discussed on Wikipedia is to Wanda Jackson (and I have to admit she's not on my radar) and she has been referred to as the First Lady of Outlaw Country.  Tight!

2017's Highway Queen has two tunes with more than 5 million streams.  "Send the Sun" tops out at 6.2 million.

There is the one that sounds like the Pulp Fiction song.  What was that song?  There it is - Maria McKee singing "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)."  After that album, nothing until this year when Nikki released 2022's Denim & Diamonds.  In my mind, I figured that I had not heard any of these tunes, but to the contrary, the top track is a Black Key-esque burner they've been playing on the radio recently.  "First High" with just over a million streams.

Tight groove in there - I dig it.  And you can almost see boobs!  Woohoo!  Although, now that I read about the album, this was not a Dan Auerbach joint, but was instead produced by Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age.  Who I also think rules!  Nikki has some great taste in collaborators!  "Born Tough" has a drum track that sounds like some recent QOTSA.  I've heard it a few more times - Sun Radio is playing it in Austin - and it makes me want to wreck shit.  Good stuff!

I'd absolutely check her show out.  I would actually just listen to this music, without this festival leading me here.  I'm going to keep her new album in my queue.  Feels like more of a rock show than a traditional country show, which will always appeal to me!

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Moody Theatre - November 22, 2015

Hot damn, man, this was a fun ass show.  ACL taping for their 41st Season.  I had read a short blurb about this cat in Rolling Stone a few weeks ago, saying that his musical career fronting an alt rock band was cratering out and his solo work had been unsuccessful, to the point where he thought of hanging it up.  And then he formed this band with some friends from Denver, paying homage to Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and doo-wop, and they've gotten some attention.

It is a big band - two saxes, a trumpet, bass, two guitars, organ, and the sweaty, ebullient, strong-voiced front man blowing it out in front.  They stepped to the stage with "I Need Never Get Old," and it was amazing.  I got goosebumps and just had to laugh - felt like we were seeing something really special.  People physically needed to get up and dance.

Crazy high energy - just hammering the audience.  So great.  In fact, the first three tunes (I don't know his music well enough to know what the next two tunes were) kept that excitement high and didn't let up.  He slowed down a bit in the middle to play "Shake" and the song that, in my mind, I was calling the "doot-doot-doot-doooo-doooo" song until just hunting for it and finding it is called "Mellow Out."  He made the lady next to me cry when he brought up his mom (apparently in the audience) and then played "Thank You."  But then they capped off the show with a strong rendition of their current radio hit, "S.O.B.," that had the crowd on their feet and singing along.

I just got goosebumps again watching the video.  The whole crowd was clapping and singing the "wooahh-oo-woah!" part like we were at a soccer stadium, and even kept it going when they left the stage.  So awesome.

And it is hard to understate the awesomeness of the trumpet player, Wesley Watkins.  The guy was JAMMING up there, even when he wasn't playing, he was pulling some dance moves out or shaking a little shaker thing with all the gusto he could manage.  The rest of the band wasn't as over the top, but they all looked like they were truly having a great time, enjoying the music, loving the crowd, doing their thing.  Freaking great show.  Watch it whenever it airs on PBS and you'll be a believer.

Imelda May

Torchy, jazzy rockabilly with a strong voice.  Her most popular track on Spotify is called Johnny Got a Boom Boom, which is a kind of awesome title regardless of anything else.

She is apparently Irish, which is surprising since her voice doesn't seem to have any accent that I can hear. Her most recent album on Spotify is Mayhem, from 2010, although the internet seems to believe that she put out another (Tribal) in 2014.  Mayhem is more of the same as the above - good rockabilly groove with her powerful voice cranking over the top.

She might be kind of fun to go see play, but luckily for me, she easily comes in third behind Gaslight Anthem or Fitz & the Tantrums on Sunday afternoon, so I'll just have to appreciate her groove from afar.