[8] On February 21, 2018, Atkins announced a 14-city spring eastern U.S. tour, beginning on April 18 at the Saturn venue at Birmingham, Alabama, and ending on May 5 at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York.

[11] Marcy Donelson of AllMusic said, "Goodnight Rhonda Lee is hardly Atkins' first stylistic excursion into the past, but here, having an audibly sharp focus, a lot on her mind, and a leave-it-all-on-tape performance ethic make for her strongest impression since her debut.

"[14] Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter called it "a moving, intensely personal and wildly creative set that ranks as one of 2017's finest works", saying, "It might have taken three previous tries and introspective psychological searching to arrive here, but with Goodnight Rhonda Lee, Nicole Atkins gets all the pieces to fit.

"[16] Nick Roseblade of Drowned in Sound said, "Goodnight Rhonda Lee never feels like a pastiche or a rip off of classic soul songs, but a celebration of the genre and life.

The magazine's writer Hal Horowitz said that Atkins "shifts to full chanteuse mode, mixing countrypolitan with a '60s, Phil Spector-styled approach that sounds like nothing else in contemporary music", calling it "a spectacularly original, compelling work that is exhilarating and timeless.