W
illie Nile, the long underappreciated, roots-rockin’ singer/songwriter from the streets of New York, has been on an incredible ride — an American ride — of late.
Nile’s 2013 album American Ride, a ringing affirmation of lyrically heartfelt Punk- and Folk-influenced Rock with chiming and crunching guitar chords and hugely irresistible, heroic sing-along choruses, turned out to be a surprise hit in Americana circles.
It won an Independent Music Award in the Rock/Hard Rock category, got airplay on stations like Northern Kentucky radio outlet WNKU and was the most successful record in his decades-long career. Nile’s first album was his 1980 self-titled debut, which got him hailed as a new Dylan. But he couldn’t capitalize on that. Until now.
An active touring schedule last year brought him and his band to Southgate House Revival, apparently his first time performing here. He had a standing, cheering, sweating crowd singing along to his sharp-visioned original songs and covers of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died” and The Clash’s arrangement of “Police on My Back.”
Continuing that high, Nile appeared this month with one of his biggest fans, Bruce Springsteen, at Asbury Park’s annual Light of Day Foundation’s Winterfest benefit concerts. Springsteen joined him onstage to perform Nile’s “One Guitar.”
Given how hard-won his current Rock cred is, it’s perhaps odd that Nile’s latest album, If I Was a River, consists of piano ballads. They are heartfelt and romantic (“I Can’t Do Crazy Anymore”) and occasionally humorous (“Lullaby Loon”), with only subtle instrumental and vocal accompaniments. Nile’s first instrument was a piano and he has put the occasional keyboard ballad on previous albums.
For his return engagement to Southgate House Revival
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he’s only bringing his bassist Johnny Pisano. Nile will play a piano and acoustic guitar. So will this be a quiet, introspective performance, like the new album?
No way, Nile says during a phone interview with CityBeat.
“Even though If I Was a River is a collection of piano ballads, when we play live as a duo it really rocks,” he says. “We’re bringing a keyboard with us so I’ll do a few songs on piano, but it’s not going to be a mellow show. It’s surprising how one acoustic guitar and a bass and two voices can really whip it up.
“It will be a collection of all the songs I do — we’ll play rockers from American Ride, ‘Life on Bleecker Street,’ ‘House of a Thousand Guitars,’ ‘One Guitar,’ cover songs. The energy level is high. And because you understand every word it isn’t just power and volume. It’s power and finesse. But it’s anything but a sedate show.”
If you’re not that familiar with the 66-year-old Nile, it’s understandable. Even though he’s been recording since 1980, If I Was a River is only his ninth studio album. Dissatisfaction with the music business caused him to give up after Golden Down, his second major-label album for Arista Records, came out in 1981.
Nile had come to Arista’s attention playing in New York City clubs and knowing members of the era’s many Punk and Post-Punk bands. There originally were big hopes for him (Arista had successfully marketed Patti Smith Group). After signing, he was in close proximity to superstars. He opened for The Who. And he was working at the same studio as John Lennon — in different rooms — the night in 1980 when Lennon was assassinated. (On If I Was a River, Nile plays the same Steinway piano he did back then.)
Tired of it all, he essentially stopped performing and left New York City for his hometown, Buffalo, N.Y. There he and his wife started raising a family.
Trying to start music again in the 1990s and returning to New York after a divorce, Nile had another round of problems with a new major label, Columbia Records, which had released his powerful Places I Have Never Been album, a Folk Rock classic of the era.
But this time he stayed with music, though it was a struggle. It wasn’t until 1999 that he self-released a fourth studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, but word of mouth about it and him started to spread in New York.
Still, he had to take a job proofreading for Showtime to get by.
“It kept me afloat,” Nile says. “There were great people there and from top down they were fans. I would go to Europe to do a tour, take the red-eye back, come in and sleep on my desk. They were really good people and it steadied my ship to have the income. I’ve been gone from them a number of years, but it stabilized my life.”
Though it took seven years to release his next album, Streets of New York, its strong material — and his keen writer’s eye for life in Manhattan — slowly expanded his domestic audience and made him a recognizable name in New York.
Since then, he’s slowly been building his national following, with American Ride providing his breakthrough. He’s now doing 130 shows a year — more than he ever has — and is already recording his next album, a return to the full-band sound of American Ride.
“I love music,” he says. “That’s why I did it in the first place and I still do it. And I’m having more success now than ever. I’m earning a living.”
Nile takes a circumspect view of his career.
“Had I in 1980 been a huge success — I had four children that I raised with my wife and they’re amazing people — I don’t know if it would have been good for them to grow up having everything they wanted,” Nile says. “If it’s a hard road, you learn from it. And it is a hard road for most people.
“It’s the spirit of the music that has kept me going. I feel there’s some redemption, some salvation that can be found in music. There’s something there. I’m a better person having gone through the ups and downs of being a musician and songwriter and keeping with it. I’m still learning and still growing. I’m a lucky guy. And these are my glory days now. This is my best work.” ©
WILLIE NILE plays the Southgate House Revival this Friday. Tickets/more info: southgatehouse.com.
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2015.
