Nikki Lane Hits The Road: Grit, Heartbreak And Honky-Tonk Spirit

This October, Love Police brings the varied and colourful Americana and country and western landscape to Australia with Nashville star NIKKI LANE and her band returning after an eleven year absence. Outlaw country queen NIKKI LANE performs a run of magnetic live shows this October with her full band by her side. From Nashville to New South Wales – Sydney and Eltham, Brisbane to Adelaide, Nikki brings her signature mix of grit, glamour and honky-tonk soul. Expect songs from her acclaimed album Denim & Diamonds, brand new track Woodruff City Limit, crowd favourites, and a live show that’s as wild and heartfelt as her powerful stories she sings. Nikki talks to Hi Fi Way about returning to Australia.

Eleven years is a long time, you must be really looking forward to coming back to Australia?
I know, right? It’s almost a little bit too long. I think most people barely make it over there once in their life, so if I get to come five more times, I’ll be spoiled. But they can’t be eleven years apart!

Is that just the complexity of organising international touring and all the hurdles involved?
It’s a big gamble. Touring internationally is risky, and it feels like a huge hurdle to overcome. Then you pair that with record releases, and next thing you know, 2020 hits, and suddenly it’s been eleven years. I honestly thought it was five. Five years since my last record, maybe. Time gets weird.

I guess we’re still paying the price of… well, we won’t mention the dreaded word. But for a lot of artists, those two or three years brought everything to a standstill?
They talk about that bottleneck, trying to get things going again. I almost came a couple years ago. I was offered the opportunity, but I’d already promised someone else I’d do a show. It was just one thing, but I was insistent on keeping my word. I did it again recently, and I was so glad. The guy I played for passed away after that show, and I look back thinking, I’m glad I didn’t let distractions pull me away from my word. So now, when BT says “Come to Australia,” I want to jump and go. If I tell you I’m coming, I’m not going to take something else that comes up, even if it’s longer or bigger. That’s how I’ve changed.

Since last time, you’ve had quite a bit of awesome new music. Is there a sense of making up for lost time?
Yeah, thank you. It feels great to share that body of work. There was a five-year stretch where I didn’t make a record, and I started to feel the weight of constantly touring. It’s not normal or healthy to just keep going. Those recharge periods helped me evolve, not just as a songwriter, but as a storyteller. If you’re always doing the same thing, it’s hard to offer a new perspective. That’s where Highway Queen came from. It was a character I created to survive this job. But it was tiring. My perspective has shifted a lot over the last decade, what I want versus what I think I want. Like owning a store. People think they want a certain job, but you don’t know what it means until you do it. I wanted a brand, but that meant packing up and going to showrooms. I had to ask myself: do I really want to do all that? Songwriting has been my through line for the past fifteen years. But I’ve also dabbled in being a homeowner, running a store, trying to be as much a human as I am a musician.

Will you be focusing mostly on the new album, Denim & Diamonds, this time around?
Honestly, I just want to do the work. It’s such a big trip, and I’m excited to ask fans what they want to hear. It’s been eleven years, and there’s a small fan base that was already there, I’d love to know what they’ve been waiting for.

Everything!
Not everything! But yeah, I know the two most popular songs from each record. Still, someone will call out a track my new band doesn’t even know. If I know they want it, we’ll learn it. It enriches the band’s understanding of the catalogue, and I get to satisfy something that’s been stuck in someone’s head for eleven years. So, I want to find out what people want to hear across four records and a new one, I’ll show you something fresh, but I also want you to be able to sing along. Hopefully we’ll have a couple singles out by then. I’ll break it up between the old and new, but I won’t miss the chance to play Muddy Waters if someone’s been waiting for it. I’ll be like, “$20 tip jar!”

Looking back on that album, are you still blown away by the impact it’s had and the feedback from fans?
It’s been fun to watch it grow. I’ve always been excited about my collaborators. I got an early Dave Cobb record. Dan Auerbach was just starting his producing era when he made mine. I made a record with Jonathan Tyler, and then came the Homme record. I even had a record I threw away, we’ll never talk about it, but I searched to remake it and ended up with Joshua Homme. I give myself credit for being able to collaborate with musicians at that level. The band Dan put together for me felt out of my pay grade. It’s wild to evolve into a place where people you look up to say, “That shit’s good.” My upcoming collaborator is Cyril Jordan from the Flamin’ Groovies. I’ve listened to one of their tracks every time I go into the studio to channel Whiskey Woman. Now he’s my peer. Butch Walker’s making the new record. It’s my best record in a different way. When people say that, I’m like, wait, Homme was the best record! But evolving is good news. It’s fun to level up with things that used to feel out of reach. The more I work with talented people, the more I learn what I sound like. I can’t play pedal steel, fiddle, or even keyboard. I can barely strum a guitar. But I’ve got a creative mind that can tell you what I think could happen.

I love the single with Sierra Ferrell. I saw her play earlier this year,she’s absolutely incredible. How did that collaboration come about?
Honestly, I bug her all the time. Just today, I dropped off boulders at her yard, ones I bought and convinced her to get too. As you get older in this job, first you want to eat, then you want all the clothes, and eventually you just do what Martha Stewart says and get a garden. So yeah, we buy rocks now! I first saw her play at an event I curated called Denim Days, where I was hired to help spotlight up-and-coming artists. Someone gave me her name, and when I watched her perform, I thought, “I want to be your friend.” I used to joke, “Come to Thanksgiving, I’ll make anything you want.” Now we’re close, we lean on each other for advice and decompress together. She’s soul food. The creativity is kind of accidental. What you see come out is just a byproduct of getting close and disarmed with like-minded people. I can’t play or sing like her, she’s the best I’ve ever heard. She’s my Patsy Cline.

Has that experience sparked ideas for future collaborations? Any dream pairings?
I’m excited to stay open to not knowing. The people I idolise and think I’d want to write with? I’ve learned that’s not always the right fit. So I started working with a publishing company and asked, “Who would you have me write with?” I’d love to work with Tyler Childers. I want Kurt Vile. Big Thief is my favorite writer. But I also want to be open to the obscure ones. Pairing up with someone for a few hours, whether it’s songwriting or DIY renovations, isn’t always about the final product. Sometimes it’s just about learning from each other.

How’s the new album coming along? Are you close to finishing it?
It’s done. I’m in this week to finish the last two songs, so it’ll be ten or eleven total. It’s mostly radio-friendly, fun stuff. But there’s one called Where the Wild Roses Grow that’s more introspective. It’s inspired by a historic cowboy ranch and a poem from a Wildflower book. It’s the prettiest song I’ve ever written. It’s annoying but also a blessing, I’m already writing more. I keep saying I want to retire and clip plants in the yard, but the ideas keep coming. So I guess I’m not done yet.

Do you enjoy the touring life?
We only see the end bit, being on stage. But airport hotels, dead grass when you come home… it’s a whole other thing. Still, I’m grateful. I watch Ozzy Osbourne and think, “Holy moly!” It’s incredible. I just try to balance making material, sharing it, and living a life you can actually write about.

Playing here in Adelaide at the Take Me Home festival with Laid Back Country Pickers and Vincent Neil Emerson is set up for a massive night?
Absolutely, and getting to spend time with those bands like we did eleven years ago in that environment! That’s the magic. What BT and Love Police are creating with these festivals, under the big sky, stagecoach vibe, it’s special. We’re actually finally getting paid to be in the same place because we’re typically passing each other on a three day festival. The artist connectivity will be thrilling. Meeting you guys will be thrilling. The come down is hard, but the experience is all highs. Being immersed in your own songwriting, your peers’ songwriting, and having people come together to share it, that’s the good stuff. You just have to learn how to navigate the slow-down side.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Nikki Lane on the following dates, tickets from the Love Police…

In Adelaide…