The Pink Stones, Espanola, Cody Allen James @ The Horseshoe, Thursday

Hunter Pinkston brings his Athens-based Pink Stones crew to The Horseshoe tonight. Check out his duet with Nikki Lane and more. 

LINKS

The Self Portrait Gospel Hunter Pinkston: The Pink Stones Interview

Happy Birthday Nikki Lane!

Celebrating Nikki Lane's 40th birthday with a few performance clips from her Denim & Diamonds tour – get tickets right here.

Happy Birthday Junior Brown!

Here's guit-steel picker deluxe Junior Brown twangin' out a surf medley, jamming with Nikki Lane and rockin' Gruene Hall.  

Nikki Lane shares new video for "Denim & Diamonds"

"Denim & Diamonds" is the title track off Nikki Lane's latest album produced by Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss).

Get a copy of Nikki Lane's new Denim & Diamonds album right here: http://newwst.com/denimanddiamondsID.

One For The Weekend: Nikki Lane w/ Dropkick Murphys

For those recovering from St. Paddy's Day, here's Nikki Lane singing "Never Git Drunk No More" with Dropkick Murphys. 

Nikki Lane spills on recording Denim & Diamonds album with Josh Homme

Nikki Lane is joined by Jaime Wyatt at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern on Tuesday. Check her chat and singing on Nashville's WNXP.

That time Nikki Lane & Jaime Wyatt cruised with Junior Brown

Watch Nikki Lane and Jaime Wyatt sing "Waymore Blues" with Junior Brown on the Outlaw Country Cruise 3 back in 2018. 

Get tickets for Nikki Lane's upcoming Toronto show with Jaime Wyatt at the Horseshoe December 3 right here. 

Happy Birthday Billy Joe Shaver!

Celebrating the birthday of country great Billy Joe Shaver with the announcement of a new tribute album and some clips.

Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver

In honor of his birthday today, New West Records & Pedernales Records are proud to announce Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver to be released November 11th, 2022. The 12-song set was co-produced by Charlie Sexton & Freddy Fletcher and features renditions of Shaver songs lovingly recorded by Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Nathaniel Rateliff, Ryan Bingham and Nikki Lane, Rodney Crowell, Margo Price, Allison Russell, and others.  

 

The Texas singer-songwriter who died on October 28th, 2020 was an integral member of the Outlaw Country movement. A favorite among music legends, Johnny Cash once called Shaver “my favorite songwriter,” while Willie Nelson declared, “Billy Joe is definitely the best writer in Texas.” Upon the announcement of Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, Nelson said, “He was just real; there wasn’t one phony drop of blood in him.” AllMusic called Shaver’s songs “among the greatest in the whole history of the (country) genre” while the Washington Post said, “When the country outlaws were collecting their holy writings, Billy Joe Shaver was carving out Exodus.” 

 

Co-producer Freddy Fletcher wrote of Shaver in the liner notes, “His influence on the greatest of artists is what inspired this project. The album is a testament to his words and their deep impact on wonderful songwriters and performers. He’s a hero to so many, and we are honored to pay homage to his legacy.”

 

On the topic of songwriting, Billy Joe Shaver once said “when you write songs, and you write good songs, people will always remember you. Words will always outlive us. And if your name is attached to those words, you’re gonna live forever.” 

 

Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver will be available across digital retailers, on compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited to 500 “Old Chunk of Coal” colour vinyl edition will be available via Vinyl, Me Please, a limited to 300 Purple, Blue & Green marble vinyl edition will be available via the Magnolia Record Club, and a limited to 300 Gold & Green colour vinyl edition will be available via Heady Wax Fiends. A limited to 500 “Denim” vinyl edition is now available for pre-order via NEW WEST RECORDS right here: http://newwst.com/liveforever. 

Watch a couple of Billy Joe Shaver clips following the Live Forever track listing below. 

About Billy Joe Shaver... 

In 1965, Billy Joe Shaver hitchhiked to Nashville and convinced the country singer Bobby Bare to listen to his songs. Bare quickly signed Shaver to a $50 a week job as a songwriter and recorded his song “Ride Me Down Easy.” Kris Kristofferson’s rendition of “Good Christian Soldier” and Tom T. Hall’s recording of “Willie the Wandering Gypsy and Me” soon followed. Shaver’s breakout moment came in 1973 when Waylon Jennings’ landmark album Honky Tonk Heroes was released. Hailed as the first “Outlaw Country” record, ten of its eleven songs were written or co-written by Shaver. One of which, “You Asked Me To,” was a top 10 hit for Jennings and was later recorded by Elvis Presley. Shaver’s legendary debut album, Old Five and Dimers Like Me, was produced by Kristofferson and issued in 1973 as well. He went on to release more than 20 albums, including the Grammy-nominated Everybody’s Brother in 2007. His final album, 2014’s acclaimed Long in the Tooth was his first to chart in Billboard’s Top Country Albums. Shaver's songs have been recorded and performed by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers, and countless other legendary artists and his signature song, “Live Forever,” was performed by Robert Duvall in the 2009 film Crazy Heart. He was honored with the first ever Americana Music Award for Lifetime Achievement in Songwriting in 2002, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Billy Joe Shaver died on October 28th, 2020.

 

 

Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver

1. Willie Nelson (w/ Lucinda Williams) - Live Forever

2. Ryan Bingham (w/ Nikki Lane) - Ride Me Down Easy

3. Rodney Crowell - Old Five And Dimers Like Me

4. Miranda Lambert - I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Someday)

5. Edie Brickell - I Couldn’t Be Me Without You

6. Nathaniel Rateliff - You Asked Me To

7. George Strait - Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me

8. Amanda Shires - Honky Tonk Heroes

9. Steve Earle - Ain’t No God In Mexico

10. Margo Price - Ragged Old Truck

11. Willie Nelson - Georgia On A Fast Train

12. Allison Russell - Tramp On Your Street

LINKS
Variety Billy Joe Shaver to be saluted by Willie Nelson and country all-stars with tribute album worthy of an outlaw

NOW Magazine Recharged Shaver by Tim Perlich (July 19, 2007)

Nikki Lane announces Denim & Diamonds tour – album out Sept. 23!

Watch Nikki Lane's video for "Black Widow" off her Josh Homme-produced "Denim & Diamonds." Tour dates below. 

Here's the scoop...

From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from Nikki Lane. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. Denim & Diamonds comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket. 

Produced by Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. Denim & Diamonds still has the fuck-off flare of which Nikki has come to be known. Her stylized, story-telling lyrics are all there as well as her catchy country hooks. The outlaw country sound is now balanced out with a gritty guitar and a machine gun snare that echoes the sound of 70’s rock. 

Nikki Lane has made a record that sounds new and old. Familiar and surprising. She embraces where she has come from, (“First High”, “Born Tough”) the lessons learned along the way, (“Good Enough”, “Try Harder”) all while doing things her way, (“Denim & Diamonds”, “Black Widow”).

Pre-order a copy of Nikki Lane's new Denim & Diamonds album right here. Check the videos for "First High" and "Black Widow" (directed by Austin Leih) along with her upcoming tour dates – she'll be rockin' The Horseshoe in Toronto on December 6th! – following the track listing below. For more info, check her site, https://www.nikkilane.com

Nikki Lane – Denim & Diamonds

1. First High 

2. Denim & Diamonds

3. Faded

4. Born Tough

5. Try Harder

6. Good Enough

7. Live/Love

8. Black Widow

9. Pass It Down

10. Chimayo

Nikki Lane returns to Toronto to rock The Horseshoe on December 6. Get tickets right here hen they become available. 

Nikki Lane voices new Spiritualized single "Crazy"

Nikki Lane was wisely enlisted by Spiritualized to sing "Crazy" off their forthcoming album Everything Was Beautiful out Feb 25.

You can pre-order a copy of Everything Was Beautiful and other merch directly from Spiritualized right here. 

Nikki Lane w/ Jonathan Tyler & Brent Cobb @ The Horseshoe, Sunday

Nikki Lane just released her third and best album, Highway Queen, via New West Records in advance of her triumphant return to Toronto for an early show at The Horseshoe on Sunday (March 5) at 7 pm.  Co-produced by Lane and fellow singer-songwriter Jonathan Tyler, the 10-song set – according to the New West press release – is "a journey through heartbreak that takes exquisite turns.

"It begins with a whiskey-soaked homage to Lane’s hometown (700,000 Rednecks) and ends on the profoundly raw Forever Lasts Forever, where Lane belts freely, mourning a failed marriage - the “lighter shade of skin” left behind from her wedding ring.  Elsewhere, the song Companion is pure Everly Brothers dreaminess.  She goes on a Vegas bender on the rollicking Jackpot (check out the Chris Phelps directed video below), fights last-call blues on Foolish Heart and tosses off brazen one-liners to a backroom piano on Big Mouth."

Highway Queen is now available digitally, on CD and LP via Nikki Lane’s official site.  Nikki's much anticipated Toronto appearance at The Horseshoe Sunday evening is part of the Stagecoach Spotlight Tour which takes her across the Midwestern U.S. to the West Coast leading up to this year’s Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on Saturday, April 29th.

The three-day "Country Coachella" has some ho-hum headliners like Dierks Bentley, Shania Twain and Kenny Chesney – really, check for yourself right here – but along with the certified pop-country-corn there some interesting acts listed in much smaller print, namely The Zombies, Los Lobos, The Blasters, Son Volt, The Long Ryders, Terry Allen, John Doe, Margo Price and The Sadies! So at least Nikki Lane will be in good company out in the middle of nowhere, 200 km east of Los Angeles. Check the complete list of her tour dates after the aforementioned video for Jackpot and some recent performance clips for Highway Queen, 700,000 Rednecks and Big Mouth.

Jackpot

Highway Queen

700,000 Rednecks

Big Mouth

Nikki Lane On Tour:
March 4 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz*
March 5 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern*
March 7 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom*
March 8 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners*
March 9 – Bloomington, IN @ Bluebird*
March 10 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*
March 11 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall*
March 13 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom*
March 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club*
March 17 – Bozeman, MT @ Filling Station*
March 18 – Boise, ID @ The Olympic*
March 20 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern*
March 21 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir*
March 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Social Hall San Francisco*
March 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey*
March 25 – Las Vegas, NV @ Beauty Bar*
March 26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge*
March 27 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater*
April 6 – Savannah, GA @ Savannah Music Festival
April 9 – Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
April 29 – Indio, CA @ Stagecoach Festival
May 19 – Nashville, TN @ Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekender Festival
*Stagecoach Spotlight tour

Nikki Lane @ The Silver Dollar, Friday

Country firecracker Nikki Lane's Toronto debut at the Silver Dollar on Friday should be a humdinger. 

Tickets now on sale for Nikki Lane @ The Silver Dollar, November 6

You can get tickets for Nikki Lane's Silver Dollar show right after watching these performance clips.