Nicole Atkins may not be on your radar, but should be.
I first got hip to her work through her arresting backing vocals on the title track of J.D. McPherson’s stellar last album “Undivided Heart And Soul” .
Her own albums are super tight and tuneful, filled with sharp songwriting and her remarkable, soaring vocals. Her new one, “Italian Ice”, will drop next month.
It was recorded at the sacred ground which is the legendary Muscle Shoals FAME studios, with a band assembled of standout session men such as David Hood, Spooner Oldham, Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings, Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman of The Bad Seeds, and drummer McKenzie Smith of St. Vincent and Midlake, with a handful of other notables joining her on vocals.
With her touring plans waylaid by the pandemic, Atkins has starting a new weekly live streaming show “Alone We’re All Together”.
It promises weekly special guests from around the globe, which this week include in Atkin’s own words “Instrument Inventor, beguiling songwriter and performance artist @Thomas_truax, one of my favorite Nashville singers, writer and cult hero Aaron Lee Tasjan and Shreveport, Louisiana’s Jazzmaster shreddin’ soul sister #1 from the Seratones, @a.j.haynes”.
Shows are at 6p.m. CST sharp, watchable on numerous platforms through this link: linker.ee/nicoleatkins .
