Nikki Lane on Why ‘Highway Queen’ Is Different From Her Previous Albums and What Inspired Her Music Career

Sandy Lo

Nikki Lane has been compared to country legend Wanda Jackson, but make no mistake, this self-dubbed “first lady of outlaw country” is a modern artist who loves Beyonce, writes about failed relationships and thinks country is somewhat dead.  Lane is resurrecting the genre in her own, rock & roll doused way.  Her third album, “Highway Queen“ releases on February 17.  Entertainment Voice spoke to Nikki Lane recently about the album, her live show and the motivation behind her music career.

Is it true that you turned to writing country music after a break-up?

Oh yeah, that’s true. I was living in New York and I was dating a musician. We broke up over the phone and I found out he cheated on me, but he didn’t want to tell me. So he broke up with me from eight blocks away. Then he told me he needed some time to go make a record in Georgia. He had been a musician for years and I wasn’t. I would try to give him feedback and he would be like, “Yeah, you should focus on yourself.” He went and made a record, so I did too. I had already written some songs before to try and be a musician, but I just went and wrote ten songs and made a record. And that was it. I was like, I make music now. We ended up getting married for a little while and moving to Nashville together.  It obviously didn’t work, which spawned most of the last record. But ultimately, he is a good friend that hooked me up with starting a career and motivated me to change lives.

You lived in New York, L.A. and now Nashville.  As a singer-songwriter, how does Nashville cater to your lifestyle versus any other city?

Just basically because of the community and the price point.  When I lived in New York and started playing music, talking about making a transition into doing it full time was a really big conversation because the cost of living there was three times more than what it was when I moved to Nashville. It wasn’t really much of a choice of whether or not we change course, it was just when. Getting down here was the only thing that freed that up. Now, you start to make money and you can see yourself going back to either of those places, but then it’s hard to validate spending the money again. Now, it’s hard to want to go back to a four-story walk-up.

How does your new album, “Highway Queen,” differ from your previous albums?

People who make records for a living are basically showing a timeline. Unlike many of my peers, I started pretty late in the game, even writing music. My timeline started in my mid-twenties, so being three records in, it’s been within the last six years. I think that the growth has been fairly rapid in terms of the fact I couldn’t play guitar six years ago. I’m not great at guitar, but I play it live. I have just grown and part of that is writing a bulk of the songs myself and not spending time co-writing, which was a great thing for learning to write more intricate songs. But it didn’t let a lot of input in. What’s really different about this record is that there was not as much input from another leader. I got to lead the project with my boyfriend, Jonathan Tyler, who was my good friend and then something sparked, and then we made a record together. It’s been a kind of fun trajectory as the two of us. It’s helped me make a lot of creative decisions in the studio. This record is the most like me that I have made so far.

You’ve been dubbed the female outlaw of country.  What does that mean to you?

Well, I got dubbed because I was joking. Someone asked me what I wanted to be—I think it was like for an early article. And I said, “Oh, I don’t know, the first lady of outlaw country.”  I was joking. I knew that was what Tennessee culture was, and I was kidding. Things kind of play that game of telephone in the journalism world, and somebody highlighted that and it just took. It goes both ways. There are people in town that don’t like you dubbing yourself the queen of anything. Touché, but I wasn’t going to pick something less cool when asked what I was looking for. To me, I’m a work horse and I want to reside somewhere at the top, so putting myself somewhere at the forefront in my imagination is how I intend to get there. We had a friend over last night and he said his favorite thing in my house, which is kind of like an antique mall, was my gold record on the wall. And I don’t have a gold record, technically. An antique picker that I’m friends with gave me a Nickelcreek gold record that he had bought at an estate sale. He has given me some really cool gifts, but what am I going to do with someone else’s gold record? It sat in the corner of the room and I felt guilty because I would hide it. That’s the weird thing about getting gifts- you kind of don’t want to throw them away, but you don’t want them. I kind of got stoned, hot glued my record to the front of it and I hung it up on my wall. You want yourself a gold record, you buy yourself a gold record.

Who are some of your biggest inspirations?

The stuff that I keep going back to is Neil Young. I still go back to the Radiohead record I listened to in high school. I constantly put on Flaming Ruby. John Prine always keeps coming back around. It’s a big variety. I definitely draw from a melting pot.

What do you feel that you bring to country music that is missing today?

Rock & Roll. I think even being country music is not accurate. I still think of country music as a thing that stopped in the ‘90s. It developed a lot between the ‘50s and ‘90s, and then it kind of went away. Then we have a lot of people that are reviving it. Then you have got this alternative country music, which is what my peers are doing. And then there’s pop country music. We can’t call that country anymore, just even from a production standpoint. I think where country lands today is in between the revivalists and some kind of indie or punk, that are country in nature because of attitude.

Who would be the top three music artists you would like to work with?

Some of my dream heritage people have already passed away. Again, Neil Young is my top of the list.  I hope there is some opportunity to spend time with him. There’s also Dwight Yoakam who’s killing it.  And then Beyonce, let’s be real. That’s the one woman, she’s the queen in the sense of the aesthetic and hard work she puts into a record like I aspire to.

What is a Nikki Lane show like?

The show in general, is typically a representation of the record sonically. I am just now getting to a point where people like, Jenny Lewis and even Kacey Musgraves. Her stage setup and presence, and ability to become a character every night—that’s where I set my sights. I’m getting to a point where there is a real show every night. Playing small venues and building a business from scratch, it’s really been like going to a live country rock and roll show, and just seeing a direct representation of the record we make. I try to make my shows a neutral place to just cut loose and enjoy music.

 “Highway Queen” is available on Apple Music Feb. 17.  Nikki Lane is currently on tour and will play Brooklyn’s Williamsburg Hall of Music March 2 and L.A.’s El Rey Theatre March 24.