Dwight + Nicole – Day Or Night
Dwight + Nicole, based in Burlington, Vermont, traces its musical roots through the blues, soul, and R&B traditions by exploring the spaces between these genres, connecting them with themes found in dream pop and alternative rock. Dwight Ritscher’s warm, soulful tenor would be the envy of many bands, but it is Nicole Nelson’s four-octave vocal range that wowed a national audience during season three of NBC’s “The Voice.” On March 20, 2026, they will release a new album, Day or Night, on WestWalk Records. While Day or Night is unmistakably a Dwight + Nicole album, it has an ’80s and ’90s influence that is not found on their previous releases and demonstrates that timeless music has a place in any era.
“I found the process of creating ‘Day or Night’ to be about looking inward – reflecting my inner and not outer world,” Nelson explains. “It was a deeply healing process creating this music. We always head into recording sessions with a bunch of songs and song ideas in hand. Often, we run out of time before we can finish everything we set out to record. Other times, we have finished recordings that don’t fit with the album we’ve built. Day or Night is the product of whittling down a collection of 163 compositions, demos, and studio recordings.” The resulting album is 12 songs deep and a reflection of the breadth of Dwight + Nicole’s musical styles and influences. The album also includes two cover songs, the pair’s re-imaginings of Yaz’s “Only You” and Jenny Lewis’ “Melt Your Heart.”
With numerous releases in prior years under their belts, Ritscher and Nelson once again worked with Joel Hamilton (who had produced their 2024 release, The Jaguar, The Raven, and The Snake) at Studio G in Brooklyn to record and put the finishing touches on the songs on the album, which include both recent and older compositions. Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Adam Ayan of Ayan Mastering did all of the mastering work on the new songs as well as remastering work on songs that had been recorded as part of sessions for past releases that then made the cut for Day or Night.
Two singles will be released in advance of the album. The first, “Only You,” was released on December 9, 2025, and it premiered at Chorus.fm earlier that week. “We had never thought of recording a synth-pop song until our manager, Dennis Wygmans, played us the Yaz classic ‘Only You,’” explains Ritscher. “We worked out the tune on guitar in a different key than the original and crafted a different ending. It has a real dream-pop vibe.” Single two is the title track, “Day or Night,” and it was released on February 3, 2026. The song premiered the day before at Magnet Magazine, who called it “their latest batch of tight-grooved Americana.” “‘Day or Night’ was an unusual composition in the way that it came together,” Nelson says. “It started out as three different song ideas that slowly combined into a single tune. I lent the background vocals to support the chorus melody and interpreted Dwight’s mumbled place-keeper lyrics into the phrase ‘day or night.’”
Joining Ritscher (vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards) and Nelson (vocals, bass) in the studio were bandmates Leon Campos (keyboards) and Ezra Oklan (drums). Other musicians who contributed to the album’s tracks included Jon Solo (keyboards) and Ali McGuirk (vocals). Legendary bassist Tony Maimone of the seminal Cleveland post-punk band Pere Ubu played on one song, while the acoustic guitar stylings of Sean Hayes of Brooklyn’s The National Reserve graced another track. Fans of Leon Bridges, Alabama Shakes, Bahamas, Jenny Lewis, Tom Waits, and Yaz will find much to like on Day or Night.
Ritscher, the band’s principal songwriter, first started performing live as a child with his grandfather. Nelson, also a major songwriter for the band, found that her first love was the musical theater, but she also explored musical expression through violin. Ritscher started his first bands while in college in Burlington, and, after graduation, he relocated to Boston to fulfill a recording contract for his band, Red Beans and Rice. He further developed his craft on stages throughout New England. Meanwhile, Nelson was being recognized as a standout jazz vocalist throughout Boston. Their paths crossed around town, and they discovered they shared an obsession with the soul and blues greats like the Staple Singers, Albert King, and Etta James. As a result, it wasn’t long before Ritscher and Nelson formed a duo. The couple later moved to Vermont, where they met and joined forces with powerhouse drummer Ezra Oklan and keyboard wizard Leon Campos, thus completing the band. They have toured throughout North America with Mavis Staples, Melissa Etheridge, and Norah Jones, among others, as well as performing as headliners.
The band’s live shows have become legendary, with fans expressing that they find comfort in the performances, and the band members’ chemistry has been described as intoxicating. Dwight + Nicole is the recipient of accolades and many awards over the past decade. The band and its members have been named “Band of the Year,” “Vocalist of the Year,” “Best Blues/R&B Band,” “Female Vocalist of the Year,” “Blues Act of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards and also won “Video of the Year” at the Independent Music Awards, as well as earning Daysies Awards from the Burlington, Vermont weekly paper, Seven Days.
2025 was about grounding themselves creatively, but 2026 will see the band performing more throughout New England and New York. They already have an album release show scheduled for March 20, 2026, at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont. Fans are encouraged to follow Dwight + Nicole on social media and to check the band’s website for additional tour dates.
#dwightandnicole