North Carolina blues-rock vocalist Nikki Hill headlines Nightfall

Nikki Hill is a North Carolina-based blues-rock vocalist. She will headline the Nightfall concert series on Friday, May 27.
Nikki Hill is a North Carolina-based blues-rock vocalist. She will headline the Nightfall concert series on Friday, May 27.

It just starts to click. You start getting onstage and the sound is right and everything feels good and BOOM. There it is, and you're never letting go of that feeling, and you're working to get it back again. Once I felt that euphoria, I knew that's what I had to get. It was the most clear I've ever felt, even if it's just for a moment. So, I'm always reaching for that feeling. That's all I need to know it's worth doing.

photo Nikki Hill is a North Carolina-based blues-rock vocalist. She will headline the Nightfall concert series on Friday, May 27.

If you go

› What: Nightfall concert series featuring Nikki Hill.› When: 8 p.m. Friday, May 27; Decibella opens at 7 p.m.› Where: Miller Plaza, 850 Market St.› Admission: Free.› Artist website: nikkihillmusic.com.› Series website: nightfallchattanooga.com.

The opener

Decibella is a Chattanooga-based R&B/funk ensemble led by vocalist/trumpeter Bexy Ribeiro, who is joined by Jon Elliott (alto/baritone saxophone), Jeremy Walley (guitar), Brett Nolan (keys), Amanda Rose Cagle (bass/vocals) and Hunter White (drums). For more information, visit decibellamusic.com.

In an age when undiscovered talents seem to be constantly erupting into superstardom under the reality TV lights, it's hard to imagine there are still musicians who experience a slow burn to popularity.

Nikki Hill grew up in North Carolina listening to a wide range of musicians, from Lauryn Hill and classic blues to the Beastie Boys and the Jackson 5. She dabbled in singing at parties or in gospel choirs, but she was mostly "content to be a music fan."

Long before Afropunk referred to her as "vintage perfection" and Pop Matters dubbed her "a talent not to be ignored," her only fan wasn't a famous celebrity judge or an infatuated record executive.

It was her husband. And when he first praised her voice, she didn't think he knew what he was talking about.

"He thought I sounded great; I thought he was full of [it]," the blues-rock vocalist recalls, in an emailed response. "But he went on about how much he thought people would enjoy my voice and if I felt like I had things I could write down and turn to song, maybe it was worth trying it out."

So while he was out on tour - he now shares the stage as her guitarist - Hill tried her hand at writing her own material. Despite enjoying it as a creative outlet, however, she still couldn't accept her talent.

"I wasn't convinced," she says. "[Matt] started bringing me up onstage to sing, and that led to other musicians in town doing the same thing. In many ways, I had to just give in to it and let the experience convince me, which is what happened."

After she embraced her calling, Hill began crafting blues-rock songs inspired by a love - she calls it "an amazing and endless obsession" - of genre pioneers such as Little Richard, Otis Redding, Howlin' Wolf, Sarah Vaughan and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Her performances have been described as having the energy of a punk concert and "the swagger of '50s and '60s R&B soul artists" (Slug Magazine). Australia's Tone Deaf Magazine suggested she has a legitimate claim to the title as "the new queen of soul."

In 2014, Hill and her band played in Chattanooga during Riverbend and the Bessie Smith Strut. On Friday, May 27, they'll put in a reprisal as the headliners of this week's Nightfall concert at Miller Plaza.

And when she launches into her set, Hill says, she hopes the audience will experience some muted echo of the emotional release she feels while singing her heart out.

"I don't need much but a stage and a mic and an open place to let that out," she says. "When it hits, it's better than the best drug. You're truly levitating. It doesn't always happen, but even getting close feels great."

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.

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