Wayne Robbins
Newsday - Music Journalist & Critic
“Folk songs for lonely tumbleweeds" is the self-description of Texas "badass" fiddler, singer, and songwriter Nicole Ridgwell. She opened one of her sets with "Don't Let Me Go Back," just her and her fiddle, alternating instrument and vocals. If one were to invent a story about Ridgwell, it would be this song, with its sense of exile from a small town, the shame of returing. (She lives in Austin, Texas.) She's got a full-throated voice, not afraid to push it to her limits.