Nikki Lane

Nikki Lane's story is peppered with Americana clichés. She left home as a high school dropout and travelled west to be a star. After a move to NYC and a failed relationship with a country singer, who left her to record an album in Alabama, Lane took out her guitar and eventually penned her second album, Walk of Shame. A life of clichés begets an album of clichés though, but this doesn't mean Walk of Shame doesn't revel in its saccharine qualities. Lane has a petulant, Valley of the Dolls lyrical style ― "Walk of Shame" is a bad girl's lament and "Gone, Gone, Gone" is a lo-fi ode to independence tinged somewhere between Malibu and Nashville. Her vocal delivery is a joy ― think Dolly Parton-meets-Bethany Cosentino. Listening to this album today is reminiscent of listening to the glorious bad-girl pop singer cheese of Alannah Myles a couple decades after her reign over pop radio ended. Perhaps in 20 years the cool kids, instead of "Black Velvet," will be belting out Nikki Lane's "Lies" in karaoke bars across North America.