Nicole Atkins’ career was well-established before she and husband Ryan McHugh moved to Nashville about five years ago. You might not be familiar with the New Jersey native’s work in the same way you’d be if she’d grown up on the local house-show or dive-bar scene. That makes her weekly livestream series Alone We’re All Together, which had its second run on Saturday, a golden opportunity to get up to speed with her phenomenal songs and singing ahead of her forthcoming album Italian Ice, due for release May 29. (Before COVID-19, the album was going to come out April 17, but both the release and a tour have been postponed by the pandemic.)
Playing a white Fender Jazzmaster and singing through a P.A. with vocal effects pedals, Atkins started the set with “A Night of Serious Drinking” and “Goodnight Rhonda Lee.” Both are from her 2017 album Goodnight Rhonda Lee, an organic and visceral record that explores dramatic emotional landscapes in detail. You could compare her gift for operatic rock ’n’ roll storytelling and singing to someone like Roy Orbison, but rather than imitating, she uses that skill set to explore a huge range of territory.
Other songs in the set included “In Another Life,” a co-write with Lera Lynn, as well as “Red Ropes,” one of Atkins’ several co-writes with The Bad Seeds’ Jim Sclavunos from 2014’s fantastically named Slow Phaser. Atkins also used the stream to give fans an up-close look at her evolution. She played “11:42,” one of the first songs she wrote nearly 20 years ago, and then demonstrated how she used techniques she learned for that song to write “Dream Without Pain,” another Goodnight Rhonda Lee tune.
As with the vast majority of streams from artists’ homes, there were some technical difficulties on Saturday. Internet connectivity issues delayed the start by about 40 minutes, and there were a few spots in which there was a lag in the video or distorted audio. Setting all that aside, Atkins and McHugh have developed a solid program for Patreon supporters (or anyone who sends money via Venmo to be shared with Atkins’ band — just send a payment and you’ll get a link to watch the show on YouTube). There are two camera angles and decent lighting, and there are even pre-recorded segments from special guests.
The first of Saturday’s two guests was Marissa Nadler, purveyor of dark experimental folk and a recent transplant to Music City from Boston, who did a gorgeous cover of the Danzig ballad “Blood and Tears.” The other was California-based Vera Sola, who made good-natured, self-effacing jokes about the downcast vibe of her songs before playing a new tune whose working title is “Daughter.” One easy reference for her deep, smoky voice is Lana Del Rey, but Sola’s invention and exploration are more akin to someone like Angel Olsen.
One other minor disappointment: a lack of material from Italian Ice. (Though distortion made it very difficult to hear, the final number sounded like “The Way It Is” from Atkins’ 2007 album Neptune City.) “Captain” and “Domino,” the two singles released from Italian Ice so far, are great, and if all goes well, we’ll have plenty more chances to hear them in the future.
