Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Danielle Nicole has spent her life making music and pleasing fans, domestically and abroad. Her stunning new album, The Love You Bleed on Forty Below Records, comprises twelve heartfelt tracks exploring themes of love, loss and perseverance.
The new album was produced by Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal, Eric Burdon, Robert Cray) and co-produced by Nicole, with John Porter (B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bryan Ferry) mixing. The tight-knit quartet on the songs features Danielle on bass guitar and vocals; Brandon Miller (electric, acoustic, pedal steel, mandolin, and 12-string guitar), Damon Parker (keyboards); Go-Go Ray (drums), and Stevie Blacke (violin and cello).
At the beginning of her The Love You Bleed recording sessions, Danielle Nicole knew this new album would be different from those in the past. “Maybe that’s because over half the songs are about falling in love and not falling through the destruction of it,” she says. The album is full of love, loss, will, determination, and all the other things that go together with love. “Make Love” is about consciously pushing past the pain, choosing love, family, and community in life’s difficult moments. It uplifts the message of love and togetherness in the face of hardship.” “How Did We Get to Goodbye” with its raw and honest lyrics, document a soured love that bears no hero or villain, asking how you get to such a place of disrepair without even knowing it. And Love On My Brain, is a potent hybrid of vintage R&B and driving blues, begins as a flirty feeling inside and turns to an overpowering need and deep desire. “Right By Your Side” is a vintage soul/R&B ballad about never making the mistake of watching “the one” walk away again.
The Love You Bleed gives Nicole a solid place that music has always provided in dealing with love and loss. “It’s been a difficult relationship listening to music outside of professional reasons since the passing of my brother Kris,” she says. “But just being honest in my writing and direction, I find when I’m the truest to myself, that’s when the magic happens. Not trying to find perfection in it so much, but engulfing myself in every moment and being there with the audience is when fun things can happen inside and out.” Many of those feelings are captured in all the songs on the album.
Today, Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the video for the standout track “Fools Gold.” With its slowburning blues-soul, the song serves as a proper down and dirty vehicle for Nicole’s vocals as well as the tightness of her backing band. Vocally, it finds Nicole fully stepping into the spotlight as she is backed by swaggering guitar and organ. The song tromps along with the kind of self-assured power that feels confident and loaded with bravado as Nicole leans into lyrical themes of avoiding fakeness. Taking on the role of actress, she does an impressive job embodying the lyrics in a visual sense while also providing a little bit of humor to complement the slinky organ, stomping drums, and vicious slide guitar solo.
“I wrote ‘Fool’s Gold’ about recognizing the shiny world of fake artistry and my attempt to avoid it. We live in a world where your soul is often the cost, and I’m trying to keep mine intact as long as I can.” – Danielle Nicole
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One Response
Awesome voice and band!