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The Queen of Outlaw Country will return with a new album Denim & Diamonds on September 23rd via New West Records produced and mixed by Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age.
The first taste of it comes in the form of low-strung countrified slacker rocker 'First High'.
Mixing the swaggering insouciance of The New York Dolls with the poppy new wave cool of The Go-Go's, it pulls together the disparate strands of desert rock, delta soul, new wave and outlaw country and makes them sound as though they were all somehow drawn from the same deep passionate well.
"“This song is about chasing that feeling of the first roller coaster, the first drag of a cigarette, that first kiss", explains Lane. "Those moments are harder to come by the older we get, yet only get better each time.
The video captures that feeling of being young in a small town on a summer day, and the lack of inhibition that came with it”
The 10-song set was produced and mixed by Joshua Homme at his Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, CA and is the first album from Nikki Lane in five years.
Denim & Diamonds features an All-Star band including Homme on guitar, bass, drums and percussion, as well as his Queens of the Stone Age collaborators Alain Johannes on guitar, Dean Fertita on organ and Michael Shuman on bass.
The album also features drummers Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys and frequent Jack White collaborator Carla Azar from Autolux.
It follows Lane’s critically acclaimed 2017 studio album Highway Queen. While still rooted in country and americana, Denim & Diamonds is the most rock and roll influenced collection of songs she has recorded.
It also presents a level of vulnerability rarely heard from her before. It is a wild, heavy journey into the mind of one of today’s most gifted songwriters.
Lane is the first to recognize how long of a gap five years is in the music world, but she credits the time away as allowing her to write the most reflective work of her catalog.
“There is a song that didn’t make the album with the lyrics ‘sometimes you gotta run away to live a life that you can write a song about.’ Prior to this album, I was so focused on writing about life on the road, that I just didn’t have the headspace to write about the road that got me here”.
Despite not releasing a new project under her own name, Lane has spent her time off collaborating with numerous artists including Lana Del Rey, Brent Cobb and Spiritualized.
Del Rey enlisted her to write and sing a duet on last year’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club and also name checks her on the title track from 2021’s Blue Banisters as well.
Lane has also been busy nurturing her diverse interests including running her vintage store of ten years, High Class Hillbilly, and curating the annual Stage Stop Marketplace at Stagecoach.
Watch the video for the album’s lead off track ‘First High’ below. The video was directed by Jocelyn Cooper and shot in North Fork, California.
Nikki Lane has also announced her initial tour dates supporting Denim & Diamonds, launching this evening.
Before supporting a wide array of artists such as the Dave Matthews Band, Spiritualized, and Midland, Lane will appear at The Spotify House during the CMA Fest in Nashville, TN on Thursday, June 9th. The rest of the tour dates are below.
Nikki Lane On Tour:
June 3 - McGill, NV - Schellraiser Fest
June 9 - Nashville, TN - Spotify House at CMA Fest
July 2 - East Troy, MI - Alpine Valley Music Theatre w/ The Dave Matthews Band
July 4 - Dallas, TX - AT&T Discovery District
July 9 - Pasadena, CA - Palomino Festival
July 16 - Segovia, Spain - Huercasa Festival
July 23 - Bloomington, IL - Black Dirt Music Festival
September 2 - Weston, CO - Caveman Festival
September 11 - Pelham, TN - The Caverns w/ Spiritualized
September 30 - La Cygne, KS - Firewater Fest
October 8 - Charleston, SC - Riverfront Park
October 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek w/ Midland
October 28 - Albuquerque, NM - Revel Entertainment Center w/ Midland
October 29 - Mesa, AZ - Mesa Amphitheater w/ Midland
New West | 2022
Nikki Lane’s Denim & Diamonds will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and lots of different vinyl versions. A limited Opaque Yellow vinyl edition will be available at Independent Retailers.
A limited to 300 Coke Bottle Clear vinyl edition will be available via Rough Trade, while a limited to 500 Opaque Red vinyl edition will be available via the Magnolia Record Club.
For more on Nikki Lane, see below:
