After a career with blues band Trampled Under Foot, and a solo album that built on the sound she crafted with her former group, singer Danielle Nicole began to stretch her musical muscles on her sophomore solo effort.
Nicole, who is an award winning bassist as well as a vocalist, says in press materials her new album “Cry No More” finds her pushing herself musically beyond the blues and pushing herself to be more personal in her songwriting.
Nicole said she has begun to discover what her own “sound” is all about. So the move to the more soulful sound on the album “has been a natural progression,” said the singer who is coming to Old Saybrook on May 9.
Part of the musical growth, said Nicole, is a tribute to her new band. With a different drummer, organist, and guitarist, the music sounds a lot different. And the new band is up to trying new sounds.
As for the more personal approach to her songwriting, Nicole cited a life changing event that she wanted finally to tackle in her songwriting, which also pushed her to look inside lyrically.
“My father had passed away when I was a teenager,” said Nicole. And she wanted to deal with the emotions surrounding that loss in a song.
Previously, she said, most of her songwriting dealt with relationships.
As she grew more personal in her songwriting, Nicole said she had no problem conveying her emotions lyrically. But the music to go with the words needed a new approach.
Producer Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Burdon) also worked with Nicole prior to entering the recording studio to make sure words and music gelled before they started laying down tracks.
Withers surprised Nicole by showing up at the studio. He then hung out to listen to the recording of the new album.
“I had no idea he would pitch a song,” said Nicole.
Withers told Nicole he had a song he wrote that he thought would be perfect for her. The two of them went out to his truck and listened to the track.
For Nicole, the moment was fraught with trepidation.
This was Bill Withers. What if she didn’t like the song? How could she back away from performing it, if it was awful?
However, Nicole said she loved the track.
Then the pressure came down to her performance. What if Withers didn’t like how she approached the song?
“We had to do it right,” said Nicole.
“He gave us his blessing,” said Nicole, who was then able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Now, Nicole said, “Hot Spell” is one of her favorite tracks to perform live.
Danielle Nicole will be promoting her new album ‘Cry No More’ when she comes to Connecticut May 9.