Nicole Atkins on World Cafe

It's no secret I think Nicole Atkins is awesome. I've never met her but I feel a certain connectedness with the Jersey gal singer-songwriter. And before everyone thinks I'm creepy, I should mention I knew her younger sister, Courtney, fairly well while in college.

Yes, Courtney and I were Outlook buddies; I was her successor for the Editor-in-Chief position at our wonderful college newspaper. I think it was 2003 when she gave me a CD her sister put together called Paperhouses. To be honest, I didn't give those eight songs enough time in my CD player.

Skip ahead a few years to March 2006 and here I am, just browsing around Rolling Stone's site and who do I see as one of the 10 artists to watch? You guessed it.

That's some serious press. AND... she'd recently signed with Columbia. It was then I realize this girl is seriously going places. Good for her, I thought. That's really cool.

So now she's a friggin' rock star... sorta. I mean, she recorded a full length album, Neptune City, for Columbia and has an EP out on their label titled Bleeding Diamonds to get the ball rolling. It is really her demo Party's Over and live performances responsible for landing a deal with a big record company, so I've read.

Her most recent exposure (and the motivation behind this blog) is a three track live performance and interview on the World Cafe from WXPN (the NPR station out of Philly). Check it out right here, right now. Seriously, that's the main reason I did all this. Go there.

And I'm a jerk for not mentioning her awesome band, The Sea, by now. They create the soundscapes that compliment Nicole's style so wonderfully. Basically though, you just have to hear them.

Go to her official website
Or check out their Myspace page

Here's the beautiful video for her song "Neptune City"


My copy of Paperhouses, an orange burned disk with Nicole Atkins "Paperhouses" written in marker, the obviously DIY artwork with simply the word "thanks" on the inside, is a musical treasure I am proud to hold. The case is busted, the label is cut off center, and the red letters are smeared as a result of me getting it wet at some point, I suppose. In the bottom left corner on the front cover, in small pencil-written handwriting is 53/56. I hope there are 55 people out there with one of these in their collection. But she's a rarity in and of herself.