New fan-financed album by veteran rocker
and “songwriter’s songwriter”
coming on April 30 — with or without a label!
NEW YORK, N.Y. — When Willie Nile recently sought help in underwriting his new album American Ride — out on April 30, 2013 on his own River House Records — with a fundraising campaign on pledgemusic.com, his fans turned out in huge numbers, reaching his goal amount in a mere four days and ultimately exceeding it.
Anyone
who’s familiar with the New York-bred singer-songwriter’s large and
impressive body of work will have no trouble understanding why he
commands such devotion and loyalty from his fan base. And anyone who’s
paid attention to his recent output knows that Nile is currently in the
midst of a creative renaissance that’s produced some of the most
compelling music he’s ever made.
The
timeless qualities of melodic craft, lyrical insight and emotional
engagement that have endeared Nile to listeners around the world are
prominent on American Ride, which ranks among the most powerful and personally charged work of his three-and-a-half-decade recording career.
“It’s
pretty rockin’ overall, but there are some left turns and right turns
along the way,” Nile says of the album. “There are songs about the
rights of man, songs about freedom, songs about love and hate, songs
about loss, songs about God and the absence of God, and songs about
standing up for your fellow man. It’s upbeat and full of life. I’m
thrilled with how it came out.”
American Ride
offers a bracing set of 11 original compositions, and one well-chosen
cover, that rank with the catchiest and most vivid music that Nile’s
ever delivered. From the everyday wisdom of “Life on Bleecker Street”
and “Sunrise in New York City” to the broader observations of “This Is
Our Time” and “Holy War” to the rock ’n’ roll abandon of “Say Hey” and
the road-tripping title track, the album consistently lives up to the
artist’s reputation for writing songs that are as impassioned as they
are infectious, and performing them with the fervor of a true believer.
Several of American Ride’s recurring themes come into focus on
the last two songs, “The Crossing” and “There’s No Place Like Home,”
which end the album on a note of humanistic uplift. Another highlight is
a fiery reading of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died,” recorded as a
tribute to both Carroll, who passed away in 2009, and to Nile’s late
brother John.
American Ride
features backup from Nile’s live band — guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist
Johnny Pisano, drummer Alex Alexander, and Nile on guitar and piano —
along with guest appearances by Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart
Smith and New York singer-songwriters James Maddock and Leslie
Mendelson. Nile also worked with some notable songwriting collaborators,
including Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, who co-wrote “God Laughs”; The
Alarm’s Mike Peters, who contributed to the title number; and Nile’s
frequent writing partner Frankie Lee, who co-wrote four tracks. The
release was produced by the team of Grammy-winner Stewart Lerman (who
has worked with Nile since the ’90s), and Nile himself. Additional
production by Pisano and Alexander.
Having
launched his recording career at the height of the major-label era, and
never comfortable with the baggage that comes along with being a
major-label commodity, Nile has in recent years embraced the autonomy
and freedom of his current indie status. To bring American Ride
to fruition, he decided to take his case directly to the fans,
financing the album’s recording, manufacturing and promotion via the
aforementioned pledgemusic.com campaign.
“The
record business is completely changed from what it was when I started,”
he observes. “Artists can be independent now and make music on their own
terms, and I love the freedom of that. I’ve been very fortunate in that
fans and friends have been getting behind the work I’ve been doing, and
it’s amazing and heartening to get that kind of support.”
Willie
Nile’s fans include Bruce Springsteen, with whom he’s guested onstage on
multiple occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as
the opening act on the Who’s 1982 U.S. tour. Other avowed Nile admirers
include Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim
Jarmusch, Adam Duritz, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once
remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in
this world, I’d be opening up for him instead of him for me.”
Born into
a large Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y., Willie began writing
songs in his early teens. After graduating from the University at
Buffalo with a B.A. in Philosophy, he moved to Manhattan’s Greenwich
Village. During his first winter there, he was sidelined by pneumonia.
While spending nearly a year recuperating, he concentrated on honing his
songwriting skills. After his recovery, Nile became a popular fixture
in the Village’s folk clubs, while drawing inspiration from the emerging
downtown punk scene. His budding career received a major boost from a
high-profile New York Times piece by legendary critic Robert
Palmer, who called Nile “an exceptional talent” and “one of the most
gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.”
The local buzz stoked by the Times story led to a deal with Arista Records, for which Nile recorded Willie Nile and Golden Down,
released in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Those albums won a sizable
audience and generated reams of press raves, with one critic likening
Nile to a “one-man Clash,” and another calling his debut effort “one of
the most thrilling post-Byrds folk-rock albums of all time.” But his
progress ground to a halt after legal disputes with his label caused
Nile to walk away from the music business, beginning a recording hiatus
that lasted for nearly a decade.
Although
he continued to write new material, Nile maintained a discreet distance
from the spotlight until 1991, when he reemerged with a new deal with
Columbia Records and a new album, Places I Have Never Been,
which restored the artist to prominence with fans and critics. The
following year, he went the independent route with the four-song EP Hard Times in America. Willie Nile — Archive Alive,
a vintage document of a 1980 performance in New York’s Central Park,
was released in 1997. In 1998, Nile lent his unmistakable voice to the
all-star concept album Largo.
In 1999, Nile released Beautiful Wreck of the World,
which marked the start of an exciting new chapter in his career, one in
which he’s wholeheartedly embraced his new indie status to create and
distribute his music free from corporate agendas. His new approach
yielded substantial results, with Beautiful Wreck of the World chosen as one of the year’s Top Ten Albums by critics at Billboard, The Village Voice and Stereo Review.
During this period, Nile substantially stepped up his touring
activities in Europe, where he’s since built a large and enthusiastic
following.
The well-received Streets of New York, from 2006, ushered in the most productive and prolific period of Nile’s musical life. The CD Live From the Turning Point and the DVD Live From the Streets of New York followed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, as did another widely celebrated new studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, and 2011’s The Innocent Ones, which won some of the most enthusiastic notices Nile’s ever received.
The BBC called The Innocent Ones “stunning . . . THE rock ’n’ roll album of the year,” and Rolling Stone included it in its “Top Ten Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011.” USA Today
named the album’s anthemic lead track “One Guitar” as the number-one
song in the nation. It was also one of five songs chosen to be played on
Occupy Wall Street’s 1000-guitar march, alongside Woody Guthrie’s “This
Land Is Your Land.”
“It’s
been a great time,” Nile says of his recent activities. “I’ve been
touring more in the last two years than in my entire career up until
then. I’m in Europe four months a year and we’ve really built something
solid over there. The fans are so great, so vocal, so supportive, and
I’m deeply grateful to each and every one of them.”
With American Ride
now a reality thanks to his — and his fans’ — efforts, Willie Nile is
moving with the unmistakable momentum of a deeply accomplished artist
who’s just hitting his stride.
“People
who’ve heard this album say it’s as good a record as I’ve ever made, and
I don’t disagree,” he states, adding, “I definitely think it’s as good a
collection of songs as I’ve put together. I’m still learning as I go,
and it gets easier every time in. I still love what I do and I’m
probably feeling more inspired now than I ever have. I really do feel
like I’m just getting started.”
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