“This is definitely the most fully-realized album that I’ve done in terms of sonic professionalism. It’s definitely more sophisticated musicianship… The writing is the strongest that I’ve done so far,” says singer/songwriter Jenna Nicholls of her recently released fourth studio album, The Commuter. The LP is Nicholls’ first since 2018’s Radio Parade and first since she left the corporate world and relocated from NYC to upstate New York, a move which she admits to me during a recent phone chat scared her, but turned out to produce far more positives than struggles.
“It’s been amazing. I left a corporate job that I’d had for about 25 years… I have a lot more space, and it gave me a lot more creative freedom. I play the piano as loud as I want, I sing as long as I want, we don’t really have any neighbors… and it’s so nice having my management close by; I couldn’t do any of this without my management.”
The Commuter dropped October 10th via Jenna’s new label home of Royal Potato Family, the Hudson Valley-based indie label founded in 2009 by singer/songwriter Marco Benevento (who brought our phriend Karina Rykman into the spotlight when he took her on as his bassist) and his manager and publicist Kevin Calabro, who Nicholls tells me couldn’t be more supportive: “Kevin, who runs the label, it’s just been wonderful to have him so close! He comes to the shows, he knows all of our songs, he sings along with all the words!”
Legendary musician and producer Larry Campbell – perhaps best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Levon Helm – handled production duties for The Commuter. “It was brilliant to work with Larry Campbell… He brought an amazing vintage Americana vibe to the sound,” Nicholls says of his contributions. He even helped Jenna get a longtime live favorite to the form that she feels like it’s always deserved: “‘Holy Moses,’ the album’s closing track, is a song that I’ve been playing for a long time, and he just elevated that to a totally new place. It’s how it should have been in the first place.”
I ask Jenna if she’s had any favorite responses to the new music and she says that the most refreshing thing to hear is that fans are actually listening to it as an album. “It’s so great to hear they’re listening to the whole thing, which I don’t think is so common these days. It really does take you on a journey,” she tells me, noting that the ten songs not only take listeners on a narrative journey, but also an exploration of her various sounds, which seems to be reflected in the variety of live shows that she plays: “I like the variety, it keeps it interesting for me… I have a jazz background, and I play folk, and I play country, and it’s fun to hop around a bit and play what’s fun to you… I love to be able to hop around!”
In addition to headlining shows, Jenna Nicholls’ upcoming dates (which currently run on and off through next October) include a show opening Levon Helm Studios for Sonny Landreth & Cindy Cashdollar tonight (which she’s very excited about), a tribute to Randy Newman, and a major festival this coming January alongside PHILTHY phriends and phavorites like Andrea von Kampen, I’m With Her, Margo Price, and Nikki Lane: “I’m heading to Florida in January to do the 30a Songwriters Festival with a lot of people I’ve been fans of for a long time, so I’m really excited to get to see all of them.”
However, Jenna Nicholls’ upcoming show in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, November 30th at The Loft at City Winery, would seem to be (in our eyes) the coolest she has on the books. Billed as Mavens of Melody: An “In The Round” Evening, it’s the first of two shows (it’s at New York’s City Winery the following night) that will feature Nicholls joining our phriend (and hers) Elizabeth Ziman (AKA Elizabeth & the Catapult) and Gail Ann Dorsey, who is best known as David Bowie’s bassist from ’95-’04, but is also a really astonishing musician in her own right. I’m curious if it’s going to be a collaborative performance or a triple-headlining show, and Jenna tells me you can expect the best of both worlds: “We’re gonna be doing some collaborating and we’re gonna be triple-headlining!”
*Get your tickets here.
