Nikki Lane, a country-pop singer songwriter, will soon visit Bloomington to perform her top hits.
The Stagecoach Spotlight Nikki Lane Highway Queen tour will come to Bloomington with a 7 p.m. show Thursday at the Bluebird Nightclub. Lane will perform alongside Brent Cobb and Jonathan Tyler.
Lane said as far as she knows this is her first time coming down to Bloomington for an independent concert, and her confusion as to whether she’s opened here is indicative of the life of a traveling musician.
“I think it truly is the first time I’ve played there, but it kind of defines the whole point of the record anyway,” Lane said. “At a certain point, it starts to become white chalk on the highway.”
The most exciting part about touring so far has been realizing the band is not playing to empty rooms.
“Some of the shows have been learning curves and growing — you have to pay your dues in every city, and every time you come back it gets better,” Lane said. “For example, we just got back from Canada. The first time we went there, money was low and with the amount of people that came out, you wonder, do we go out of our way seven hours to go to Montreal next time?”
Seeing the fan base grow with this most recent Canadian trip, and the tour in general, has been one of the biggest highlights, and Lane said she is excited to add Bloomington to the list of places she has played.
In terms of her start in music, Lane said she began playing as a way to spite an ex-boyfriend who, during her time in New York City, discouraged her from giving her input on his music. After the breakup, Lane got her start.
“It motivated me to write songs and make a record as a joke and the next thing I knew I had a record deal,” Lane said. “It just kind of fell in my lap.”
Lane said she has experience in the world of fashion, and her love of vintage influenced her originality and the character she builds. She also said the connections she has been able to make with people come from both her time in music and fashion.
This latest record release allowed Lane to exercise her creative freedom and, though she said she had plenty of say in her music before, this time she finally had the element of confidence in her ability to pick up her instrument and create the music she wanted to make.
“No one ever prohibited me from that — you were allowed to stand up and say something — but I was learning everything as I went along, even how to play guitar,” Lane said.
