We nearly got to see you last year but circumstances intervened.

I know! We are just determined to get there, and even more excited to finally perform in Colne!

What can we expect from a Nikki Hill show?

Great music and a sweaty, unbridled feeling.

Tell us a bit about the band

You need to HEAR them to believe it.

They’re really great guys. I just added a second guitar player which has been so much fun hearing songs develop and redevelop with another addition.

So there’s Matt Hill and Robert Nesbit on guitar and Ed Strohsahl on bass whom I met in St Louis while living there for a couple of years.

He played on most of my debut album, and I loved his approach, and thankfully he liked ours and started touring with us. There’s Chris Reddan on drums, a well seasoned machine. Their combination of experience in different bands brings a lot to our sound.

Do you approach a festival date differently?

The vibe from the audience guides a lot of a show, whether that’s a festival or at a venue. Either way, I’m going to play my songs, and maybe a couple favorites. Me and the guys are going to play it all with everything we’ve got, and that’s about it. That time onstage is sacred to me, so either way, I’m going to make something out of it!

You’ve been described as ‘the Queen of rock and roll’. How would you introduce yourself to Colne?

I can’t call myself the queen, you know? I’d say more like the court jester of roots.

What are your musical influences?

I heard a lot of R&B and soul growing up with my mom. At the time, I felt like it was old people’s music, and didn’t “get it”. I’d never had my heart broken and all so I couldn’t understand those pleas, you know?

I started exploring my own musical interests as a teen, getting into punk rock and rock n’ roll, which just led me right back to R&B, soul, gospel, and roots music.

It didn’t sound so uncool and old any more when I heard those records years later and had been through the experiences they were singing about.

Now I can’t get enough of it! I love Otis Redding, The Staple Singers, The Sonics, The Faces, Little Richard, Toots and the Maytals, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Amy Winehouse, Nick Curran. The list goes on, as they say.

Two albums into your career, do you think your musical style is changing?

Of course! I was so green on the first album.

I hope I’ll just keep growing musically the way I am as a person, and can reflect the different influences I’ve gained and will gain.

There is so much music to absorb, and even more to put out!

What are you currently working on?

Writing, listening to music (what I call studying), more writing, more studying. I want to release another record, so that’s where my head is!

What inspires you to write - a melody coming into your head or do words come first?

Both. It can be a melody, or an experience, or a story. I don’t want to keep myself stuck on a process when I barely know the one I’m working with now!

I don’t think the world leaves anyone without some source of inspiration if you’re open to it.

I’m a fan of jumping down the rabbit hole, so I try to use that to my advantage when creating. Writing is an interesting beast. It’s a new kind of of self reflection for me, the entire process is from writing to recording. There isn’t an audience to feed from, just yourself, and capturing this moment rather than making one with a crowd, it’s a trip.