Nicole Atkins's latest record, <i>Goodnight Rhonda Lee</i>, isn't out until next month (July 21, to be exact), but the singer recently paid a visit to the Paste Studio and played us three of its songs: "Brokedown Luck," "Listen Up" and the title track.
<i>Goodnight Rhonda Lee</i> is a transitional record of sorts for Atkins, recorded after a move to Nashville and, among other things, a decision to quit drinking.
"If you want to be simple about it, it was basically I was going through a bit of a depression to say the least, and writing these songs and putting them together was kind of the thing that was keeping me alive in a way," Atkins said. "I got married, I moved to Nashville, I was trying to get sober, everything was just so new. And I remember feeling like super down and like 'Aww, no music' and then I was like, 'Wait, it's not music's fault.' So I put this Post-It note on my door that said 'It's not music's fault' and just kept writing and kept writing. I would get super nervous when I had to meet people I didn't know. They'd be like 'oh, go on this co-write' and I'd either cry or throw up before I went. I don't know why, but I would. But then when I was there and I was meeting them, even if we didn't get a good song, it was fun. I just kept saying yes to things, and it got me out of my head and living again."
You can hear that newfound vitality throughout the album, whether on "Brokedown Luck" (which Atkins describes as "like the <i>Fraggle Rock</i> theme song, and that was intentional") or the powerful "Listen Up," where she reminds us that "you gotta make mistakes to know it takes mistakes to grow."
That message also carries through to "Goodnight Rhonda Lee," which sees Atkins bidding a gentle farewell to her past self.
"I wrote this song with my friend Chris Isaak, and he kept saying, 'Say goodnight, say goodnight to the band,' and for months I was like, 'What does that mean? How can I finish that?' And Rhonda Lee is my drinking alias. You know, my parents would be like, 'We're having dinner tonight, don't bring Rhonda Lee,' that kind of thing," she says, laughing. "But I was just thinking about all the dumb things that I used to do and all of these embarrassments but kind of having a kindness for that girl, you know? Because she's not a bad person, she's just a fruit loop."
Check out Atkins's full session—where you can also hear her talk about falling into a sinkhole and explain why she's "the Larry David of indie rock."