Key to the Highway: Danielle Nicole

Danielle Nicole photo by Missy Faulkner

Americana Highways’ Key to the Highway series

Fans always clamor to learn more about their favorite, most beloved musicians and those who travel with them. There’s such an allure to the road, with its serendipity, inevitable surprises, and sometimes unexpected discomforts. This interview series is a set of questions we are asking some of our favorite roots rock Americana artists to get to know more about them and what they’ve learned and experienced on the road for music. We are sure they have key insights to share and stories to tell. Here’s one from Danielle Nicole.

Americana Highways: How do you like your coffee or other morning wake-up beverage?

Danielle Nicole: I am pretty bougie when I am at home, but when I’m on the road, I’m a basic bisch. It is usually black with at least one shot of espresso and two raw sugars, but always water first in the morning.

AH: What’s the most interesting or strangest motel/hotel or place you have stayed (while on the road for music?)

DN: I’ve stayed in some pretty cool, unique and flat out eccentric places. Any time we stay in an old church or monastery is really weird. I think because of the sheer amount of human time and energy spent. I don’t mean ghosts, but energy is forever and a lot of energy has been spent in places like that.

AH: If one CD is stuck in the player in the van for the entire tour, what do you hope it is? And why?

DN: What’s a CD? I would have to say Innervisions by Stevie Wonder. Mainly because he is such a brilliant writer, musician, performer, and singer but also because there’s not a single song I would skip.

AH: What’s one personal item you must have with you on your road trip?

DN: Assuming the pictures of my boys are still in the vehicle, I always carry some kind of paper or notation device for lyrics.

AH: What is your relationship with food? How do you handle this on the road, and what’s your favorite dish on the road, (or restaurant, and what do you order there)?

DN: I love good food! We eat for pure necessity a lot of the time and under a time limit, so we always make it a point to try to find time to experience whatever local specialty, Ma and Pa diner, epic restaurant or food truck wherever we are. We usually have one full meal a day and then snack pretty decently, healthily. It is the road… But we do what we can to make sure the fuel going into our bodies is not poisonous.

AH: If you could pause your life for a few weeks and spend some time living in a place you only have passed through, which would you choose, and why?

DN: I would love to spend a couple of weeks in May or June in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. I’ve only spent a short amount of time there and would love to explore the salt mines and castles.

AH: What quote or piece of advice have you gotten from someone on the road that has really stuck with you?

DN: Learn the business!! It’s too easy to get screwed. Also, write your songs and own your masters.

Find more information about her new album out January 26 and tour dates for Danielle Nicole, here: https://daniellenicolemusic.com

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Vince Herman Jimmy Smith Ben Nichols Bruce Cockburn Charlie Musselwhite Nicki Bluhm Jim White Danny Barnes Patterson Hood Jerry Joseph BJ Barham Rodney Crowell Todd Snider Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt Sarah Shook & the Disarmers Sadler Vaden )