Nicole Atkins’ new album, Italian Ice is assured—it’s a portrait of an artist who is becoming an expert at finding her vision and rallying the troops around her to help bring it to fruition. But there is also a tenderness, a vulnerability, a maternal instinct to care for those around her and keep the keel even. This isn’t Nicole’s first visit to The Vinyl District, she has appeared on—not one—but two episodes of TVD’s In-Store with… record shopping segments.
Italian Ice was recorded at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and comes on with the thickest pop grooves you’d ever want to experience. On side two the signal fades and the dial mysteriously drifts into distant stations you may not normally tune in: oldies, retro radio, swing, seasick ballads, and psychedelic torch songs. Stop controlling everything, let Nicole be the captain on this voyage.
Nicole isn’t wasting her time during pandemic days, she’s gathered much of her band in her parent’s NJ home so they can quarantine together and produce a weekly program for Amazon Music called Live From the Steel Porch. It’s a musical variety show with special guests that’s just right for these times.
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Sharp Notes each Saturday evening at 6pm and TVD Radar on Sundays at 5AM on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.
