Nikki Moddelmog’s distinctive musical style puts her in good company on the folk-pop spectrum, somewhere between Ani DiFranco and Patti Griffin. Her songs are at once deeply personal and profoundly universal, and her onstage manner is a delightful blend of supreme confidence and awkward self-consciousness. One reviewer called her “a charming and disarming mélange of contradictions.”
She’s plenty busy these days. There’s her swingin’ trio The Sidecar Royals, and her collaboration with cellist Susan Mayo. Her stellar four-piece all-star folk-pop band The Mischief Makers is a powerful regional force. She performs solo, and she is exploring jazz.
Meanwhile, she has fallen in love with house concerts.
“It’s my favorite way to play,” she says. “A small, engaged crowd. Like, gathered around with 12 other people. Me, telling my stories and playing my songs by the fire. Or in living rooms. Again with the living rooms.”
There’s a lot to love about that kind of performance. Lower volume. Closer connection with her audience. More reasonable hours. It is, in a word, healthier.
As a yoga instructor and a massage therapist with a long list of devoted clients, health is a primary concern for Nikki. “It’s my job to make people feel better. I want my music to be part of that.”