Nikki Lane (born 17 October 1983 in Greenville, South Carolina) is an Ameri… Read Full Bio ↴Nikki Lane (born 17 October 1983 in Greenville, South Carolina) is an American country music singer-songwriter.

One glorious day some years back, a teenage high school dropout Nikki Lane (nee Nicole Lane Frady) packed a trailer with her worldly possessions. With one hand firmly gripping a steering wheel and the other flipping the bird, she said so long to her home, Greenville, South Carolina, The South and any sort of life it had suggested she should live. Western bound, she was headed to Los Angeles for no other reason than just because.

Flash forward to today and we find Lane an empowered artist, having escaped any sweet and sour small town trappings for some serious see-my-name-in-lights grandeur and artistic fulfillment. Signed recently to the flourishing Los Angeles-based indie label, IAMSOUND Records, Lane's bold vocal chops and wildly infectious personality have been making a stir in circles spanning across country to rock to indie and back again. Working with producers David Cobb (Shooter Jennings, The Secret Sisters) and Lewis Pesacov of Fool's Gold, the first release of these efforts was the four-song EP, Gone, Gone, Gone, released July 19th and will be followed by the 11-track full length "Walk of Shame" out September 27th.

Throughout "Walk of Shame," Lane weaves in and out of ballads of heartache, one-night stands, leaving, lust and longing. She plays the rambler and sometimes drunkard with such an ardent aptitude she'd fit right in alongside classic country icons like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. On the title track she swears never again will she wake in a stranger's bed, "with a bass drum thumping in her head" as the music drives us out of that alien apartment and down the street into the break of dawn. In "Gone, Gone, Gone," while a blistering slide guitar cries on, she croons on the chorus her tale of leaving The South, promising, "And if I leave this town I'll be gone, gone, gone and I won't be back for far too long." Meanwhile, hitting a more delicate note, Lane shows off softer sentiments and solid song-writing skills on "Save You," crooning helplessly, "Well your bad habits they're all stacking up and it's plain to see you just can't get enough. And I'm trying to break through but I'm losing sight. Oh what can I do to make it all right? How can I save you from yourself?"

Sometimes the victim, sometimes the aggressor, always the Southern sweetheart, Lane rolls through song after song, belting out her earnest poetics with such warmth and tenderness to become entirely absorbed in this music is only natural. "They're all stories," she says. "That's the only way I know how to write. All my songs have a beginning middle and an end. I want to tell you what happened to this person and what the result was."

"You grow up in The South, you grow up in a small town, your expectations are a little bit limited," she continues. "People expect you to go to a four-year college, get married and follow that Southern way of life. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew it wasn't being offered to me."

And so we return to her story: Lane settled in L.A. and without clear direction she worked various day-to-day jobs and dabbled in fashion, getting shoes manufactured in China and painting them to sell under the Nikki Lane moniker. Five years passed and she started writing music but forsook that path after just two promising shows for a corporate job offer across the country in New York City.

"I'd always wanted to live in New York and somehow ended up talking my way into a really well paying job," she says. "That was an opportunity I couldn't say no to. And so I moved and for a year didn't even touch music. It was like something I'd just tried once. I'd written a couple songs and that was the end of it."

But like any good country singer, heartbreak brought her back to music when her boyfriend left her to record an album in Atlanta. "I was like, fuck that," she says, "Why does he get to make a record in Atlanta while I'm sitting in New York crying? So I just sat down with a guitar, I didn't have anything going on, I didn't have many friends in the city that weren't his friends, it's freezing in New York and I'd quit my job, so basically for three months I holed up in this apartment and I just wrote."

She started learning Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, John Prine and Merle Haggard tunes, the sort of classic country songs that have steeped her own writing now, trying her best to strum along and building her confidence along the way. "And all of a sudden it hit me and I started writing like crazy," she says, "I wrote a whole album in a month's time and just decided I was going to make a record in Nashville. It was like my revenge record."

Empowered, in February, 2009, Nikki went to Nashville, recorded an album she self-released titled No Room for Cowboys, and returned to New York a musician. That's essentially where IAMSOUND found her and signed her and set to build the material that would become "Walk of Shame." The album serves as a forceful farewell to The South, says Lane. "We sat down and wanted to write something about leaving a place and being like, you'll be fine, I'm not coming back."

And as if Lane's history wasn't enough evidence of her well-proven knack for leaving, on her arm rests a tattoo that reads, "Wanderlust calls again." "I feel like everyday I might be better off if I could get up and go," she says. "I've had a really hard time staying put because the different scenery is what's inspiring."

Lane now lives in Nashville where she also owns and operates a vintage boutique called High Class Hillbilly, selling pieces she has collected while touring the country.

Nikki Lane's "Walk of Shame" will be released on IAMSOUND September 27th, 2011.

Good Man
Nikki Lane Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

i don't mind doin dishes at night
pickin up all your mess that you leavin behind
cause you go on the road for a month at a time
you say you can't wait to get back home
and i don't mind when you're comin home late
whiskey on your breathe say you made a mistake
kissed a girl on the mouth it was a three dollar bet
but you'll always call me your own

how can i be the one who cries for you
unless you love me true
how can i be the one who listens to you lie
unless you take the time to be a good man to me
any day of the week
tell your boys oh no
that you just can't go
now its just my baby and me
be a good man to me
i understand if its not in your way
to go down the wrap on your lady all day
but the simplest thing that would make my heart break
well you don't even think to do
so if its too much to be giving enough to keep the sparkle alive
i guess that we tried everything tht we could
to keep our love going good
and i'd like to think i'm better for it.
Cause how can i be the one who cries for you
unless you love me true
how can i be the one who listens to you lie
unless you take the time to be a good man to me
any day of the week
tell your boys oh no
that you just can't go
now it's just my baby and me
be a good man to me
And if you deal every minute of me
then it wasn't in vain
'Cause what's a girl without a broken heart
And some baggage to play
When she climbs on a plane?
I don't mind doing dishes at night
Picking up all your mess that you're leaving behind

'Cause you go on the road for a month at a time
You say you can't wait to get back home

Overall Meaning

In Nikki Lane's song Good Man, she talks about being in love with a man who constantly disappoints her but she still holds on to him. She sings about how she does not mind doing the dishes and picking up after him even though he leaves for a month at a time. She also talks about how she does not mind him coming home late, reeking of whiskey, and even having kissed another girl. However, she expresses that for her to continue loving and crying for him, he has to love her truly and take the time to be a good man to her. She believes that if they have tried everything they could to keep their love going and it still breaks, then maybe she is better off for it.

Overall, the song is about love and the sacrifices people are willing to make for their partners. It is also about the importance of treating your partner right and being a good partner. The song is relatable to anyone who has been in a relationship where they have to make sacrifices to keep it going and who has faced disappointment and betrayal from a partner.

Line by Line Meaning

i don't mind doin dishes at night
I have no problem doing house chores at night.

pickin up all your mess that you leavin behind
I am okay with cleaning up after you because you are always away from home.

cause you go on the road for a month at a time
I tolerate your absence since you have to travel for work and be away for a whole month.

you say you can't wait to get back home
You express your longing to come back to me after a long time on the road.

and i don't mind when you're comin home late
I don't mind that sometimes you come home late.

whiskey on your breathe say you made a mistake
When you come home late, you sometimes have alcohol on your breath, and you confess to making a mistake, like kissing another girl on a three-dollar bet.

but you'll always call me your own
But you will always acknowledge me as yours, despite any mistakes you make.

how can i be the one who cries for you unless you love me true
I cannot give you my deepest emotions unless you truly love me back.

how can i be the one who listens to you lie unless you take the time to be a good man to me any day of the week
I cannot keep listening to your lies unless you genuinely make an effort to treat me well every day.

tell your boys oh no that you just can't go now its just my baby and me be a good man to me
Tell your friends that you cannot go out with them because you need to spend time with me and our child, and focus on being a good man.

i understand if its not in your way to go down the wrap on your lady all day
I understand that you may not always feel like being intimate with me all day long.

but the simplest thing that would make my heart break well you don't even think to do
The easiest way to break my heart is when you fail to do the simplest thing, like show affection and appreciation.

so if its too much to be giving enough to keep the sparkle alive i guess that we tried everything tht we could to keep our love going good
If it's too much for you to put in the effort to keep the love between us alive, then I suppose we have tried all we can to maintain our relationship.

and i'd like to think i'm better for it.
Despite the challenges we face, I believe that I have grown and improved by being with you.

And if you deal every minute of me then it wasn't in vain 'Cause what's a girl without a broken heart and some baggage to play when she climbs on a plane?
If you make every minute with me count, then it's all worth it. A girl needs to experience a broken heart and have some life experience to bring with her wherever she goes.

now it's just my baby and me be a good man to me
It's now just me and our child, so please continue to be a good man to us.

Contributed by Jordan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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