Willie Nile

Never heard of him before, Lafayette, but here is what allmusic.com has to say about him:

Biography – by Richard Skelly

Born and raised in Buffalo, singer/songwriter Willie Nile came from a musical family — his grandfather was a vaudeville pianist who played with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Eddie Cantor, and his uncles played boogie-woogie. Nile’s older brothers, meanwhile, brought home the music of Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly and Fats Domino, all of whom he heard from the time he was three or four years old. Nile himself began playing piano at age eight and took classical music lessons until he was a teenager, when he taught himself his first rock & roll song. He soon began to compose short songs and continued the habit into his college years, when during the summers he made trips into New York City to frequent hootenanny clubs like Folk City and the Gaslight. After graduation, Nile took an apartment in the heart of Greenwich Village; however, during his first winter in New York, he contracted pneumonia, which put him out of commission for about a year, although he continued writing songs while recuperating. After regaining his health, he began hanging out at clubs like CBGB’s, where he would see bands like Patti Smith, Television, the Ramones and Talking Heads.

At establishing residency at the Village club Kenny’s Castaways, Nile began drawing ever-growing crowds, which in turn led to his first record deal. Following a flurry of critical acclaim, he found himself courted by representatives from close to a dozen record companies; he chose Arista Records, and went into the studio with a band that included Jay Dee Daugherty from the Patti Smith Group. After two acclaimed albums a self-titled 1980 effort and 1981’s Golden Dawn, Nile fell prey to protracted legal problems which derailed his career for a number of years; although he continued to write, he did not perform live or record again until a 1987 performance in Oslo, Norway with Eric Andersen. A videotape of Nile’s performance in Norway prompted a Columbia talent scout to sign him to the label in 1988, and production on his album didn’t start until for two more years; issued in 1991, Places I Have Never Been featured appearanced by backing musicians including Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Roger McGuinn, and members of the Hooters and the Roches. A four song EP titled Hard Times in America followed in 1992.

I get to see Willie for free tomorrow night at ArtPark in Lewiston , NY, just across the border for me 25 minutes. It’s an outdoor ampitheatre along the Niagara River.
Comments on his link with Lu have already been well covered in this thread.
Looking forward to the show.
lwj
p.s. The Doobie Brothers are there tonight but I can’t make that gig.

Lafayette,

I believe the video was from the NYC one album per night shows, that I was “Blessed” to see. If they ever happen again, you MUST GO!! Truly a special experience. It was also fun that Lu seemed as tickled to be performing with so many of the artists, as they were awed to be on stage with her.

Still glowing remembering back on the experience… Sometimes, life is really, really good! 😀

Art Park, Lewiston, NY with Willie last night.
Awesome evening of Rock.
I arrived about 5:30 when Willie and the band ( 7 in total ) were doing their sound check which turned out to be a 1/2 hour rehearsal and was able to meet him following and bring up the Lu and Andy York connections.
He had very kind words for each. Willie is a gifted rocker full of energy now with a career as long as the best-i.e. Lucinda, NEIL, John Mellencamp. He is 62 years young.
The concert opened with the Alison Pipitone band from Buffalo-well known in the local scene. Alison’s sister plays the dual role of merchandise gal and back-up singer.
Willie’s concert was a full 2 hours and included songs from his new CD (Innocent Ones) to be released in October. Willie spent the entire month of July in Italy and he wanted to leave the concert fans with a memory so he had CD’s made there of the new album and brought the unsold ones to Art Park and was selling/ autographing them. The CD is a “rough cut” with no liner notes included yet and Willie asked the fans not to leak the songs on the internet yet.
By the time I got to the merch table, they were sold out.
He did a couple of solo numbers on the keyboard as well.
All in all, a great “free” concert under the stars.[attachment=0:kuu483b9]tn_Willie Nile concert Aug. 11,2010 008.jpg[/attachment:kuu483b9]
lwj

Willie is performing in Buffalo, NY at Buffalo Place, outside along the canal on Friday, June 28th. i hope to go.
Meanwhile his new record “American Ride” comes out on Tuesday.

Watch the very clever video of this song touring all of the U.S.A.
http://addictedtovinyl.com/blog/2013/06/18/out-on-the-open-road-with-willie-nile-and-his-great-new-american-ride/

lwj