Spotlight Album Review: Willie Nile "Willie Nile Uncovered"

Buffalo native Willie Nile moved to New York City at a particularly fertile time of the ‘70s.  In Greenwich Village folkies like Jack Hardy, David Massengill, and Cliff Eberhardt were forming a community that evolved into Fast Folk. At the same time, the scene at CBGB’s was flourishing under Patti Smith, The Ramones, and Talking Heads. Willie absorbed that hard rock energy, but, like Bruce Springsteen, created songs with the lyrical ambitions of Bob Dylan.

The range of Willie’s music has been captured brilliantly on Willie Nile Uncovered, a tribute that is Sunday Supper’s spotlight of the month for August. Willie has been releasing albums for 40 years, but due to legal issues, only four studio albums were released between 1980 and 2006.  With Streets of New York, he hit his stride and hasn’t let up since, putting out nine studio albums in 14 years.  

Paradiddle Records, which has previously done tributes to The Kinks, Bob Dylan, and Nanci Griffith, has outdone themselves on Willie Nile Uncovered. It’s been lovingly packaged with complete credits and extensive liner notes by Steve Matteo. The album reveals the richness of Willie’s catalogue over 26 tracks. Some of the selections came from the artists, some from Paradiddle, all remarkably matched to Willie’s style.

Some of the artists are his contemporaries, like Elliott Murphy, Nils Lofgren, and Graham Parker. Graham closes out the first disk with the anthemic “One Guitar” (produced by Stewart Lerman with Steuart Smith of The Eagles on guitar) from The Innocent Ones, while Nils kicks off Disc 2 with the upbeat “All God’s Children” from Children of Paradise (“Tell everybody who has lost their way/All god's children gonna sing”) – two examples of Willie’s belief in the power of music.

Given the number of Willie Nile songs that draw on life in New York, it’s appropriate that many of the artists are from the city. Richard Barone’s cover of “Streets of New York” is a perfect choice, with its vivid depiction of NYC (“They come by the millions/The hipster, the prince and the clown”). Also from Streets of New York, Leland Sundries tell the story, “The Day I Saw Bo Diddley in Washington Square.” Willie’s buddy, James Maddock, locks in on “She’s Got My Heart,” while Kenny White adds some piano on “Vagabond Moon,” the opening track of Willie’s very first album, Wille Nile. And Lucy Kaplansky’s voice serves the bittersweet ballad “When the Last Light Goes out on Broadway” (not to be confused with Billy Joel), when she sings “I love this dirty town.”

Lucy’s pals, John Gorka and Richard Shindell, also appear on Willie Nile Uncovered – John with a tune he can relate to about growing older (“I Don’t Do Crazy Anymore”) and Richard with the appropriate Biblical reference, “On the Road to Calvary (For Jeff Buckley).” Other national artists who turn up include Dan Bern, Slaid Cleaves, and Rod Picott.

Jonathan Preddice supplied gorgeous string arrangements for “When the Last Light Goes out on Broadway,” recorded at Paradiddle Studio by Bill Herman, the co-executive producer of the album and Paradiddle honcho. With their base in Huntington, the label was able to draw strongly on the Long Island music community for the album. Artists include Emily Duff, Iridesence, Annie Mark, Caroline Doctorow, and Pete Mancini. Two standouts are Quarter Horse with an Americana vibe on “When Levon Sings” (complete with mandolin in honor of Levon Helm) and Gene Casey with a touch of Elvis on the travelogue, “American Ride.”  The penultimate track also has a Long Island connection. It’s “House of a Thousand Guitars” with Allen Santoriello (who, if I’m not mistaken, has played with Willie on occasion). The last word, though, goes to Willie’s longtime guitarist Johnny Pisano (a.k.a. “Johnny Pi”), who does a reggae-style reprise of “One Guitar” as “One Guitar Mon’.” It’s fitting that the album should close with this call to action:

I'm a soldier marchin' in an army
Got no gun to shoot
But what I got is one guitar
I got this one guitar
And it goes... na na na...

 So if you get knocked down you gotta take a stand
For all the outcast, dead last who need a helping hand
So get your tambourines and turn your arms up loud
And raise your voices, voices up above this crowd

 At the age of 72, Willie Nile shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, he released a fine new album, New York at Night, just this spring. Thanks to Willie for his unwavering rock & roll heart and thanks to Paradiddle for giving Willie his due.

Photo by Cristina Arrigoni