I saw Nicole Atkins open for Mike Doughty a couple of years ago (in fact, keyboardist Dan Chen left Mike Doughty’s Band to join Nicole Atkins & The Sea a few weeks earlier so the set had a bit of a reunion feel to it).
Anyway, I enjoyed what I heard that night and have kept an eye/ear on Nicole ever since. I downloaded her wonderful “Bleeding Diamonds” EP from iTunes some time ago and her recently released full-length album, “Neptune City,” has been garnering tremendous reviews. She has an incredible voice and is an amazingly gifted songwriter.
Nicole Atkins & The Sea made their network television debut Oct. 30 with a performance of “The Way It Is” on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” which you can see in the video above.
Nicole and her bandmates have also been featured in a recent American Express commercial.
More importantly, Nicole is a fellow Jersey Shore native so I really would like to see her succeed. And I think she will. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that 2008 is going to be THE year of Nicole Atkins.
Tandem With The Random 
Nicole announced at her concert at the Bowery Ballroom last week that keyboardist Dan Chen was making his final appearance with her band the Sea at that show. IMHO Dan leaves some pretty big shoes to fill. I’m curious to hear more about what Dan has in mind…