Skip to content

Singer Nicole Atkins Doesn’t Recommend Insomnia, Alcoholism, Falling Down Sinkholes

September 14, 2026 · 47 min

Show notes

The acclaimed singer and songwriter Nicole Atkins is pretty adept at reading clues that something is wrong. After she’d fall asleep on a Saturday and wake up on Monday, she knew it was time to get more aggressive about addressing her insomnia. Years before, a fall down an actual sinkhole made her realize that drinking had become a pretty big problems. On Nicole’s new album Drama, her first in five years and produced by Wilco’s Pat Sansone, she offers many songs that began as mumbled voice memos recorded in the throes of debilitating insomnia, which has since improved with a pretty simple adjustment. She shares that story, tales of growing up in a hard-drinking “party house”, and she calls out one particular hotel in Knoxville that had a dangerous sinkhole and were then total jerks about it. We also get to hear some brand new music from Nicole.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at [email protected].

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group. 

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joindepresh

All episodes of Depresh Mode with John Moe

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.