Nikki Lane
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Nikki Lane (born October 17, 1983) is an American country music singer-songwriter and artist. She has released four albums: ''Walk of Shame'', '' All or Nothin''', ''
Highway Queen ''Highway Queen'' is the third studio album by American outlaw country singer Nikki Lane. It was released on February 17, 2017 on New West Records. Background and recording Lane's previous album '' All or Nothin suggests a more hipster si ...
, and Denim & Diamonds''.


Early life and education

Lane was born in
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...
, and dropped out of high school there. She then worked as a fashion designer for a time, before moving to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 2006 and later to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. After doing so, she broke up with a country musician, who left her to record an album in Alabama; this experience inspired her to begin writing country music songs. Lane, who now lives in
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, also owns and operates a clothing store called "High Class Hillbilly".


Career

On September 27, 2011, Lane released her debut album, ''Walk of Shame'', on
Iamsound Records Iamsound (stylized IAMSOUND; formerly Iamsound Records) is an American entertainment company based in Los Angeles and founded by Niki Roberton. Iamsound comprises a creative and marketing studio, visual artist management firm, and independent r ...
. She co-wrote 'Gone, Gone, Gone' with producer
Lewis Pesacov Lewis Pesacov (born November 24, 1979) is a record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer based in Los Angeles. Some of his production, songwriting, and mixing credits include Best Coast, Nikk ...
of
Fool's Gold The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Lustre (mineralogy), lu ...
. Her second album, '' All or Nothin'', was released on
New West Records New West Records is a record label based in Nashville and Athens, Georgia. It previously had offices in Burbank, California and Beverly Hills, California. From 2013 to 2018, New West's records in the U.S. were distributed by Alternative Distrib ...
on May 6, 2014. It was produced by
Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...
of
the Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...
, whom she met at a flea market. Auerbach allowed Lane to record the album at his studio, Easy Eye Sound Studio, for free. Lane has said that working with Auerbach in the making of this album was very easy and natural for her. ''All or Nothin'' features a duet between Lane and Auerbach, "Love's on Fire". In 2017, Lane recorded a duet with comedian and musician
Ben Hoffman Benjamin Isaac Hoffman is an American comedian, actor, writer, and musician. Hoffman is better known by his country musician alter ego Wheeler Walker, Jr., as whom he has released five studio albums. His first album as Wheeler Walker, Jr., ' ...
, better known by his raunchy country artist persona Wheeler Walker, Jr., for the song "Fuckin' Around" on his sophomore album '' Ol' Wheeler''. She is credited as "Kacey Walker". Lane's album ''Highway Queen'' was released on February 17, 2017. It was recorded near Dallas, TX at The Echo Lab from February to June 2016 with Nikki's boyfriend Jonathan Tyler, as well as the other members of her current touring band. Two music videos were released ahead of the album's release; the title track, "Highway Queen", in which Nikki and friends crush cars with a monster truck, and Jackpot, in which Nikki and Jonathan Tyler successfully try their luck in old Sin City, ultimately resulting in a Vegas chapel wedding. In another notable video released in August 2017 for the song "Send The Sun" Nikki and the band play live on a vintage country television studio set accompanied by big-haired blonde-and-vacant back-up singers and a youthful but very skilled (twin brother and sister?) dance routine. Unfortunate circumstances struck Nikki's band around the time of recording ''Highway Queen'', when lead guitarist Alex Munos was sidelined by cancer and started receiving treatment in May 2016. He would later recover and return to the band around the time of ''Highway Queen''s release. In July 2017 former drummer Ben Eyestone passed away from colon cancer. He had played drums on Nikki Lane's first two albums. In 2021 Nikki co-wrote and performed "Breaking Up Slowly" on the
Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...
album ''
Chemtrails Over the Country Club ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on March 19, 2021, by Interscope and Polydor Records. Del Rey enlisted producer Jack Antonoff as her co-producer for t ...
''. In 2022, she performs "Never Git Drunk No More" with
Ken Casey Kenneth William Casey Jr. (born April 15, 1969) is an American musician who is the primary songwriter, one of the lead singers and bassist of the Boston Celtic punk group the Dropkick Murphys. Casey was one of the original members, starting ...
on the
Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The current lineup consists of co-lead vocalist and bassist Ken Casey, drummer Matt Kelly, co-lead vocalist Al Barr (on hiatus from the band since 202 ...
album '' This Machine Still Kills Fascists''. The album is based on never-used-before texts written by
Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...
. In September 2022, she released her fourth album entitled ''Denim and Diamonds'', which features Josh Homme from the band Queens of the Stone Age on guitar and drums. Homme also produced, mixed, and co-engineered the record.


Critical reception

Lane's sound has been compared to that of
Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American retired singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of Rock music, rock, Country music, country and Gospel music, gospel. She was among th ...
, as well as the sound of
Neko Case Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...
's early albums. She has also been referred to as the First Lady of Outlaw Country.


''Walk of Shame''

A review of ''Walk of Shame'' in
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
stated that Lane has "a petulant, ''Valley of the Dolls'' lyrical style" and praised her vocal delivery. Another review of this album was written by Mark Deming, who said that "Lane has confidence to spare and a voice that lives up to her own self-worth" and gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars. Deming also said that Lane has yet to fully master the art of recording music in a studio.


''All or Nothin''

According to review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, ''All or Nothin'' has received generally favorable reviews from critics, with a score of 79 out of 100. Holly Gleason, writing in ''
Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...
'', awarded it a score of 8.5 out of 10 and said that the album's songs "read like Polaroids from a wild heart gone ragged". Gleason also praised Auerbach's production, which she called "savvy". Lane told ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' that she was flattered at the positive reception this album had received from the press.


Discography


Studio albums


EPs

* ''Gone, Gone, Gone'' (2011)


Singles


Awards and nominations


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Nikki American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from South Carolina Musicians from Greenville, South Carolina Living people New West Records artists 1983 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers Iamsound Records artists Singer-songwriters from South Carolina Outlaw country singers