Nikki Lane (from the album Denim & Diamonds

Nikki Lane (from the album Denim & Diamonds

Nikki Lane (from the album Denim & Diamonds available on New West Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Nikki Lane is a rocker. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter runs hard with the Country, Americana, and Roots crowd but she is more than capable of dropping Rock’n’Roll, which she does on the Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) produced Denim & Diamonds. The performer and producer form a sweet partnership, as Homme’s always been able to craft a hook, his presence giving Lane more ‘oomph’ to her natural edge. She opens Denims & Diamonds with a growing older reality, “First Time” a narrative all of us share of chasing those first ever feelings, of a good show, a good buzz and a good time.
The title track could be a Queens of the Stone Age track when Josh Homme’s guitar sound gives the song a charge. That gritty, stoner guitar continues on the catchy, autobiographical “Born Tough” while Nikki Lane drops Old-School Country on “Good Enough”. “Live/Love” is a heavy weeper where Lane drops a load of lessons that we all could heed, “Black Widow” is another Rocker that the the rhythm section compliments with quick hand claps pump and pulses filled in with pedal steel stabs.  She closes with the haunting “Chimayo,” where Lane isn’t backed by the big band, but sparse instrumentation; it’s a quiet but great closer.
Nikki Lane displays a lot of swagger, which is appropriate on an album that’s less Country Rock, more Rocking Country. There’s plenty of Traditional Country instrumentation in ripping pedal steel fills but there is also instrument experimentation for the Roots Rock crowd, perhaps the influence of Homme, which gives Denim & Diamonds an added rock flair. (by Bryant Liggett)
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