Danielle Nicole Band returns to Volcanic

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 18, 2019

Danielle Nicole will return to Volcanic Theatre Pub on Friday a Grammy-nominated musician.

The bassist, singer and former frontwoman for blues-rock sibling band Trampled Under Foot earned the nod for Best Contemporary Blues Album for her second solo album, last year’s “Cry No More.” She and Brandon Miller, guitarist for her eponymous band, attended the ceremony in February.

“I mean, I’m getting chills right now just thinking about it,” Nicole, born Danielle Nicole Schnebelen, said recently from her home in Kansas City, Missouri.

“It was so cool just seeing everything on such a huge level, like the performances. Our category is earlier in the day, so I wasn’t walking the red carpet with Lady Gaga and Cardi B — I wasn’t at that time; I had already gone through. But when you walk in and you see the red carpet and you see all of the news outlets and all the cameras and everybody, and you run up and you do an interview and then you go back against the wall and you take a picture. … You’re just ping-ponging and zig-zagging, and it’s just so overwhelming.”

While Nicole didn’t win, she was able to learn more about The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammy Awards and advocates for artists’ rights through government lobbying, its We Are Music campaign and more, according to the Academy’s website.

“As a rebellious youth, I was like, screw you, Grammys,” Nicole said. “You know what I’m talking about — the artists that are just like, oh, it’s just an organization of evil and chaos and blah blah blah, mainstream music. (But) it was really cool to see everybody coming together and seeing what the recording academy is about. People are in music to make money, especially in the triple-A (radio format), but I really believe that they are trying to protect the rights of the artists, as well.”

The nomination is the latest example of Nicole’s steady rise in the music world since Trampled Under Foot’s final album, 2013’s “Badlands,” earned the Contemporary Blues Album of the Year award at the 2014 Blues Music Awards. Nicole also won in the Best Instrumentalist — Bass category, but the band unraveled soon after (although it did reunite for some shows around 2016).

Most recently in 2018, Nicole’s brother, Trampled Under Foot drummer Kris Schnebelen, played drums in her solo band. However, he was replaced by Ralph Forrest this year. Trampled Under Foot guitarist (and Nicole’s other brother) Nick Schnebelen released a solo album, “Crazy All By Myself,” last month. While the sibling relationships have been repaired since Trampled’s breakup, Nicole said she doesn’t foresee another reunion anytime soon.

“That was kind of the reason that Trampled Under Foot disbanded in the first place, was to save our familial relationship,” Nicole said. “… It broke my heart that that was what happened to us because we had something really, really cool going, but in the end, what is happening now, I wouldn’t change for the world. And not just because of the Grammy nom, not just because we’re touring Europe, but just because I feel more like myself than I ever have as an artist.”

“Cry No More,” which follows the Danielle Nicole Band’s 2015 debut album, “Wolf Den,” finds Nicole expanding on her blues-rock roots to incorporate elements of soul, R&B, funk and pop. She wrote or co-wrote nine of the album’s 14 songs, including the organ-driven title track and “Bobby,” a song dedicated to her blues musician father, who died in 1999.

Nicole worked with a long list of heavy-hitters in the studio, including guitarists Luther Dickinson, Sonny Landreth, Walter Trout, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and her brother, Nick. Cover songs include Prince’s “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” and “Hot Spell,” a track personally given to her by Bill Withers. The R&B singer-songwriter visited the studio during the sessions with a friend of producer/drummer Tony Braunagel, and shared a demo of the song with Nicole in his car.

“I followed him; there was no stranger danger to me — I was just like, ‘Mr. Withers, sure, I’ll follow you wherever,’” Nicole said. “So I just get in his car. He pulls out this CD out of his glove box and pops it in. He says, ‘My daughter sings my demos,’ and ‘Hot Spell’ starts playing. I’d never done anything like it before; I’d never heard anything like it before. It takes a little while to get going, but then that bass line comes in, and I’m like, yep, that’s a Bill Withers song. … So he played it for me and he’s like, ‘What do you think?’ And I was like, I think I’m dreaming that Bill Withers is asking me what I think of a song he wrote.”