Lio Nicol is both sage and sass: her quirky provoking lyrics reflect her sense of humor and grace. A Montana native, Lio relocated to California in 2010 to pursue her singer/songwriter goals; exploring a variety of styles including rock, pop, R&B and country while developing her soulful voice and spirit.

She has toured and recorded with top musicians and Grammy winning producers while sharing her music throughout both the US and Canada. Lio Nicol has performed a variety of concerts including the Dragon Boat Festival, Durango Expo, House of Blues in Los Angeles and San Diego, Molly Malones, and many others. Her talents have been recognized by Singer Universe, with her song “With Love From Me” putting her in the top ranks among the Vocal Performance category. Her single, “This Song is For You” also hailed top awards with Songwriters Universe, while many of her other works are published under Penn Music.

In this interview feature, we chat with Lio about her new project, influences, the digital music world and much more.

Full Q&A with links and a stream of Blame can be found below.

Let’s dive a little deeper into Lio Nicol, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre and style?

That’s a great question! I naturally gravitate towards music that has a good groove. I like to feel good in my body when I’m singing and writing it. I’m not sure what specifically attracts me to this style because I never sit down and write a song for my self with a specific style or idea in mind. I just sit down and start pressing keys and picking strings and see what happens!

How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?

For about 6 years now. One day I just literally had an epiphany and was like…I’m doing this. This is why I’m here.

Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?

I honestly don’t consciously think what I want something to sound like when I am writing so I can’t say specifically, but I listened to a lot of popular music like Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, Destiny’s Child, Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, Enya, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, the Eagles, Earth Wind and Fire….like literally everything. So I think I subconsciously I pull little pieces from music throughout my life and create what I do.

What motivates me is my obsession with my goals to be a songwriter and performer. I check in with my self every week and ask, “Would I be happier doing something else?” And so far the answer continues to be NO. So that’s that! =)

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new single, “Blame”? Creatively or otherwise? Is there a story behind it?

This song was the beginning of me loving what I am putting out. Everyone in life goes through the learning phase of figuring out what they don’t like and after that you start to see what you do like. This was one of the first products of figuring out what I do like and what feels like me!  I wrote this song in San Diego and produced the first version of it with a friend in an underground “studio”…and by that I mean literally a cement room under a restaurant in the Gaslamp district.

What was the last song you listened to?

The last song I listened to is one I’m currently writing with someone else buuuuut the last song I listened to that I didn’t write is…”Brave New World” by The Foreign Exchange.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?  

Well if I had a Vinyl player I’d be down with that but I’ll go with CD’s because they remind me of my childhood.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

To be honest I’ve made one playlist in my life on Spotify but most of the time I just open Pandora and let it roll. They play a lot of the music I grew up with without me having to organize it.  I do need to get into the other streaming sources though for sure!

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?

I think there are a lot of challenges within the online media outlets. The way they are run and set up makes it a bit hard to become visible, but honestly I believe that great music will get heard if you push it and so I stand by the thought of if it’s great it will go somewhere. I think the mass abundance of music is a great thing though. It’s never been easier to get heard. It’s just harder now to stand out! But I accept that challenge haha.

Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?

I have a show coming up on November 19th at The Hotel Café in Los Angeles. I perform as much as I can and am currently getting into live streaming. I’m hoping to dive more into that this year!

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?

Right now you can check out my website LioNicol.com or you can always look on Facebook, Instagram and Soundcloud.

Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?

Thanks for the great interview questions! Aaaand shout out to my supportive friends family and fans!! You all rock my sock and can’t wait for you to hear what’s coming next!