[4][5] Atkins has cited the bay as a major inspiration for her music, particularly the imagery of "the river in the rain" found in the title track on her album Neptune City.

She started playing in pick-up bands and doing gigs at local coffeehouses while attending St. Rose High School in the nearby town of Belmar.

[8] Influenced by the artists signed to independent label Rainbow Quartz, she strayed from the louder rock music she'd played in North Carolina and moved toward the songcraft style of Wilco and Roy Orbison.

[14] In mid-2004, Atkins and David Muller, who had played drums with Fischerspooner and The Fiery Furnaces, started working on a demo CD entitled Party's Over.

[15][16] In late 2006, Atkins and the Sea traveled to Sweden to record her debut album, Neptune City,[17] at Varispeed Studios in Kalgerup and Gula Studion in Malmö with producer Tore Johansson.

[20] Several other musicians joined Atkins in the studio to record the tracks for what would become her second album, Mondo Amore, including guitarist Irina Yalkowsky, drummer Mike Graham, and bassist Jeremy Kay.

Graham, Oklan, Yalkowsky and Kay would form the core lineup of The Black Sea with whom Atkins would tour in support of Mondo Amore.

[24] In the month following the release Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea performed at South By Southwest and were reviewed by Spin Magazine[25] as "the best live band of the festival.".

[28] In February 2014, Nicole returned to Late Night with David Letterman to perform on his last season, a new rendition of her song "War Torn," off of her "Live from the Masonic Temple, Detroit" album, which was recorded while on tour as the opening act for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

[30] A review in American Songwriter concluded, "Why Atkins didn’t achieve star status with Goodbye Rhonda Lee isn’t clear.

[34] Atkins provide vocals for the track "Solano Avenue" (as Estrella Cumpas) on David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's 2010 album, Here Lies Love.

Nicole Atkins produced and co-wrote "Too Late" and "Saturday" for Tommy Stinson's Bash & Pop which were released by Fat Possum Records.

Nicole Atkins covered "Joey" by Concrete Blonde, which was released December 8, 2017, as part of the Shovels & Ropes duet album, Busted Jukebox: Volume 2.