Checking In With… Nicole Atkins

In times of crisis, it’s more important than ever to check in on your friends and loved ones. Here at XPN, we’re Checking In With our extended musical family to see how they’re holding up during the Coronavirus quarantine…and what music has kept them grounded. Today, Dan Reed chats with Nicole Atkins.

Neptune City, New Jersey native Nicole Atkins called in from Nashville, where she’s been living, quarantining from the Coronavirus pandemic, and washing her hands. “I’ve never had hands this clean, for real.” Atkins’ new record Italian Ice releases on May 29th, but unfortunately much of the planned tour in support of it has been cancelled. “It’s an hour by hour thing. It stinks, but everybody’s in the same boat. But we will be back…eventually. I’m trying to do my best not to get too down about it.”

Below, listen to Nicole’s full Checking In chat with Dan Reed, and peruse her music picks.

Favorite Song Of All Time: “The Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin

“I got the Led Zeppelin box set for my confirmation in eighth grade. I didn’t like jewelry, I said ‘I’d much rather had this box set.’ And I still have it! I chopped up the booklet and put it all over my wall; I wish I didn’t do that now. It’s the first time I can remember being like ‘what is that sound?’ And looking it up; it was a mellotron.”

Song That Raises Your Spirits: “Cherry Cherry” by Neil Diamond

Song You’re Most Proud of Working On: “The Way It Is” by Nicole Atkins

“It was my first time I wrote a song and had a feeling of, wow, this is something. I wrote that on the train on New Jersey Transit from New York to Asbury. The melody came in my head, and then I got in an argument with my dad about a boyfriend, and wrote the lyrics in like two seconds. It came together so fast and resonated with our audience instantly. And then to do that song on the Letterman show and have my family there from Neptune City, it was such a surreal moment. Hey, anything can happen. It was my fist memory of being really proud of something that I made.”