Nicole Atkins & The Sea Land Coveted Opening Slot on Chris Isaak Summer Tour for Second Year Running

For the second summer in a row, the critically-acclaimed Nicole Atkins and her band, The Sea, will open a series of shows for Chris Isaak on the legendary roots rocker's upcoming tour in July.

In addition to her shared concert bills with Chris Isaak, Nicole Atkins & The Sea will play a run of stateside headline and festival dates -- including Lollapalooza and All Points West -- throughout the summer and early autumn. Prior to her North American gigs, Nicole and her band are slated to perform at a series of prestigious European festivals in late June and early July. (Please see full concert itinerary following.)

With her debut album, "Neptune City," drawing rave reviews, Nicole Atkins & The Sea spent much of early 2008 on the road, beginning with a major North American club tour launched in January highlighted by a well-received performance in Austin in March at the annual South By Southwest (SxSW) Festival.

In addition to her concert dates with Chris Isaak last summer, Nicole and her band toured extensively throughout the past year, performing a series of shows with The Raveonettes as well as their own headline concerts. In August 2007, Atkins soared to #2 on the Google trends list (searches that have increased significantly) on August 13, shortly after an American Express commercial, featuring Nicole and her music, had premiered during a PGA television broadcast.

Earlier this year, Nicole Atkins was a participant in the Barnes & Noble 'Discover Music' series which issued a CD, available exclusively through Barnes & Noble, featuring Nicole's 'Maybe Tonight,' 'The Way It Is' and her cover of the Mama's & the Papa's 'Words of Love.'

Nicole's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins) has received more than one million plays and profile views to-date. The page includes her single 'Maybe Tonight' as well as '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."

Released last October, "Neptune City," the first full-length album from Nicole Atkins & The Sea, closed out 2007 as one of the year's most heralded debut recordings.

'The New Yorker' (January 7, 2008), in the magazine's 'Pop Notes Instant Reply' feature, singled out 'Neptune City' for its " ... high chamber pop ... Atkins's vocals keep the songs rooted in deeper traditions of girl group, soul, and even country. The record's highlights include the loping 'War Torn' and the ecstatic, anthemic 'Brooklyn's On Fire!'"

'Rolling Stone' named Nicole Atkins 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."

'Entertainment Weekly' lauded 'Neptune City' for its " ... funky bass lines and romantic film-score strings... It's heartbreak nearly at its finest and most cosmopolitan."

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."

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.

Nicole Atkins' major label debut EP, 'Bleeding Diamonds,' was released in 2006.

  NICOLE ATKINS & THE SEA - 2008 Summer Tour Dates

  Date            City                      Venue
  06/28/08        Borlange                  Peace and Love Festival

  07/01/08        Nimes                     Arenes de Nimes w/ James Blunt
  07/04/08        London                    Wireless Festival- Hyde Park
  07/05/08        Copenhagen                Roskilde
  07/07/08        Amsterdam                 Melkweg

  07/12/08        Wiggins Park, Camden, NJ  XPoNential Music Festival
  07/15/08        Valley Center, CA         Valley View Casino w/Chris Isaak
  07/16/08        San Diego, CA             Humphrey's w/Chris Isaak
  07/18/08        Saratoga, CA              Mountain Winery w/Chris Isaak
  07/19/08        Saratoga, CA              Mountain Winery w/Chris Isaak
  07/20/08        Saratoga, CA              Mountain Winery w/Chris Isaak
  07/22/08        Portland, OR              Doug Fir Lounge (Headline)
  07/24/08        Woodinville, WA           Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
                                             w/Chris Isaak
  07/25/08        Seattle, WA               Triple Door (Headline)
  07/26/08        Victoria, BC              Lucky Bar (Headline)
  07/27/08        Vancouver, BC             The Plaza Niteclub (Headline)
  07/29/08        Troutdale, OR             Edgefield Winery w/Chris Isaak
  07/31/08        Santa Rosa, CA            Wells Fargo Center w/Chris Isaak

  08/03/08        Chicago, IL               Lollapalooza
  08/07/08        Baltimore, MD             West Mount Vernon Park (WTMD
                                             Summer Series)
  08/09/08        Jersey City, NJ           Liberty State Park
                                             (All Points West)
  08/15/08        Atlantic City, NJ         House Of Blues
  08/24/08        San Francisco, CA         Golden Gate Park
                                             (Outside Lands Festival)
  08/25/08        Los Angeles, CA           Cafe Largo (Headline)
  09/28/08        Austin, TX                Austin City Limits

  www.nicoleatkins.com
  www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins
  www.columbiarecords.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

SOURCE: Columbia Records

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

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