Nicole Atkins, One of Rolling Stone's "Top 10 Artists to Watch," Picked for Coveted Opening Slot on Upcoming Chris Isaak Summer Tour

Nicole Atkins, one of Rolling Stone magazine's "Top 10 Artists To Watch," has landed the coveted slot opening for Chris Isaak on the legendary roots rocker's upcoming summer tour beginning in late July (see full itinerary following). Atkins will join the Chris Isaak tour shortly after the July 24 release of her first full-length album "Neptune City," one of the year's most eagerly-anticipated musical collections.

In celebration of the album's release, Atkins -- currently on tour with her own group, The Sea, and the Long Blondes -- will make her national television debut on the "Late Show with David Letterman" Thursday, July 26, performing "The Way It Is," the song USA Today selected as its "Top Pick Of The Week," applauding a track that "builds to an Orbison-like climax of longing, self-pity and melodrama." "The Way It Is" has been streamed more than 200,000 times on Nicole's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins).

Taking its title from the town on the New Jersey shore where Atkins was born and raised, "Neptune City" is produced by Tore Johansson (Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand, OK Go, Saint Etienne, New Order) and presents an astonishing cavalcade of the artist's deeply felt, finely wrought performances. Atkins, a gifted illustrator who studied at UNC Charlotte, brings a painterly quality to her exquisitely layered truly modern pop songs, combining elements of vaudeville, musicals, and atmospheric soundtracks with moody psychedelia, country, blues, folk, rock, jazz, girl groups, and an indefinable something purely her own.

Atkins -- whose major label debut EP, "Bleeding Diamonds," was released last fall -- is experiencing a wave of critical acclaim and mounting popular success, drawing rave reviews from the nation's music press.

Rolling Stone named her one of its "Top 10 Artists To Watch," praising her "voice full of longing and Loretta Lynn elegance" while lauding her "slightly surreal folk-pop songs that evoke moonlit walks with the shadows closing in."

Spin.com loved her songs "dancing between Radiohead-channeling riffs and grandiose instrumental explosions" while the Asbury Park Press called Nicole Atkins "a must-hear for anyone who yearns for the nostalgia but hopes for the future."

  Nicole Atkins/Chris Isaak Tour Dates
  Jul-30-07 Mon         Chicago, IL         House Of Blues
  Aug-02-07 Thu         Atlantic City, NJ   House Of Blues
  Aug-03-07 Fri         Danbury, CT         Ives Center
  Aug-05-07 Sun         Hampton Beach, NH   Hampton Beach Casino
  Aug-07-07 Tue         New York City, NY   Beacon Theater
  Aug-09-07 Thu         Myrtle Beach, SC    House Of Blues
  Aug-12-07 Sun         New Orleans, LA     House Of Blues
  Aug-16-07 Thu         Orlando, FL         Hard Rock
  Aug-17-07 Fri         Clearwater, FL      Ruth Eckerd Hall
  Aug-18-07 Sat         Boca Raton, FL      Mizner Park Amphitheater

  http://www.nicoleatkins.com/
  http://www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins
  http://www.columbiarecords.com/

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SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Benny Tarantini of Columbia Records, +1-212-833-5858,
Benny.Tarantini@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.nicoleatkins.com/
http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins