7. Nicole AtkinsItalian Ice
Over the years, my brother T Bone Burnett has introduced me to a great number of people I never imagined I would ever meet, from the bassist, Ray Brown and guitarist, James Burton, to memorable encounters with Willie Dixon and Jerry Lee Lewis. In September 2019, T Bone invited me to a concert screening of Easy Rider that he was producing at Radio City Music Hall in which the soundtrack would be re-created live. John Kay was there to deliver roof-raising versions of, ‘The Pusher’ and ‘Born To Be Wild’ while Roger McGuinn sang, ‘I Wasn’t Born To Follow’ as beautifully as ever.
Among the artists charged with singing songs by artists no longer with us was Nicole Atkins. She easily surpassed the soundtrack version of ‘The Weight’ by the group Smith. What astonished me more was that I had never heard this voice before. Between the near demise of the music press and the needle in the haystack searches on the internet, I am both dismayed and thrilled to encounter music I have somehow failed to register. I soon obtained a stack of Nicole’s own records and found so many fine songs and some killer singing and playing, proving once more that you can respect the "Then" and still be about, "Now". On Nicole’s new album ‘Italian Ice’, you’ll sense a strong understanding of songcraft but the stories of ‘Never Going Home’ and ‘St Dymphna’, the humour, and the emotion of the voice are all her own. Don’t let this one slip by.
