Nikki Lane

Nikki Lane (born October 17, 1983) is an American country music singer-songwriter and artist. She has released four albums: Walk of Shame, All or Nothin', Highway Queen, and Denim & Diamonds.

Early life and education Lane was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and dropped out of high school there. She then worked as a fashion designer for a time, before moving to Los Angeles in 2006 and later to New York City. After doing so, she broke up with a country musician, who left her to record an album in Alabama. This experience inspired her to begin writing country music songs.

Career On September 27, 2011, Lane released her debut album, Walk of Shame, on Iamsound Records. She co-wrote 'Gone, Gone, Gone' with producer Lewis Pesacov of Fool's Gold. Her second album, All or Nothin, was released on New West Records on May 6, 2014. It was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, Lane has said that working with Auerbach in the making of this album was very easy and natural for her.

In 2017, Lane recorded a duet with comedian and musician Ben Hoffman, better known by his raunchy country artist persona Wheeler Walker, Jr., for the song "Fuckin' Around" on his sophomore album Ol' Wheeler. She is credited as "Kacey Walker".

Lane's album Highway Queen was released on February 17, 2017. It was recorded near Dallas, TX at The Echo Lab from February to June 2016 with Lane's boyfriend Jonathan Tyler, as well as the other members of her touring band. Two music videos were released ahead of the album's release; the title track, "Highway Queen", in which Lane and friends crush cars with a monster truck, and Jackpot, in which Lane and Tyler successfully try their luck in old Sin City, ultimately resulting in a Vegas chapel wedding.

In another notable video released in August 2017 for the song "Send The Sun" Nikki and the band play live on a vintage country television studio set accompanied by big-haired blonde-and-vacant back-up singers and a youthful but very skilled (twin brother and sister?) dance routine.

Unfortunate circumstances struck Nikki's band around the time of recording Highway Queen, when lead guitarist Alex Munos was sidelined by cancer and started receiving treatment in May 2016. He would later recover and return to the band around the time of Highway Queens release.

In July 2017 former drummer Ben Eyestone died from colon cancer. He had played drums on Nikki Lane's first two albums.

In 2021 Nikki co-wrote and performed "Breaking Up Slowly" on the Lana Del Rey album Chemtrails Over the Country Club.

In 2022, she performs "Never Git Drunk No More" with Ken Casey on the Dropkick Murphys album This Machine Still Kills Fascists. The album is based on never-used-before texts written by Woody Guthrie. In September 2022, she released her fourth album entitled Denim and Diamonds, which features Josh Homme from the band Queens of the Stone Age on guitar and drums. Homme also produced, mixed, and co-engineered the record.

Lane, who now lives in Nashville, also owns and operates a clothing store called High Class Hillbilly.

Critical reception Lane's sound has been compared to that of Wanda Jackson,

Walk of Shame A review of Walk of Shame in Exclaim! stated that Lane has "a petulant, Valley of the Dolls lyrical style" and praised her vocal delivery. Holly Gleason, writing in Paste, awarded it a score of 8.5 out of 10 and said that the album's songs "read like Polaroids from a wild heart gone ragged". Gleason also praised Auerbach's production, which she called "savvy". Lane told Billboard that she was flattered at the positive reception this album had received from the press.

Discography Studio albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales US Heat US Country US Folk Walk of Shame Release date: September 27, 2011 Label: IAMSOUND Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl — — —All or Nothin' Release date: May 6, 2014 Label: New West Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl 32 — —Highway Queen Release date: February 17, 2017 Label: New West Records Formats: CD, cassette, digital download, vinyl 2 41 14 US: 8,300 Denim & Diamonds Release date: September 23, 2022 Label: New West Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl 13 — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

EPs Gone, Gone, Gone (2011)

Singles + List of singles, showing year released and album name Title Year Peak chart positions Album USAAA "Gone Gone Gone"2012 —Walk of Shame "Right Time"2014 25All or Nothin'''

2016 —

24

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10

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2015 Americana Music Association Emerging Artist of the Year Nikki Lane 2017 Ameripolitan Music Awards Outlaw Country Female Nikki Lane