The Cottage Views Interview with Willie Nile
25 November 2008
Part 1 was broadcast on Rockland World Radio as part of World Hunger Year’s Hungerthon 2008 –
Funding the Fight against Hunger and Poverty on the Cottage Views Classic Rock
Music Hour hosted by Michael A. Cimino.
The show can be listened to at your convenience by logging on to www.RocklandWorldRadio.com and then clicking on Programs & Archives/The Vault and scroll down to Cottage Views.
Part 1 – for Hungerthon
MC:
From the disc Live from the Streets of New York, that was Willie Nile
with “Cell Phones Ringing.” Your
listening to Cottage Views Hungerthon 2008 on Rockland World Radio dot com.
And right now we have on the phone with us the man responsible for that
great new music, the one and only Willie Nile!
WN:
Hello, Michael. How are
you?
MC:
Alright, Willie. How’ve
you been?
WN:
Doing fine.
MC: Did
you know that the studio version of “Cell Phones Ringing” was Rockland World
Radio’s song of the year in 2006?
WN: No,
I did not.
MC: Oh,
yeah. We played it to death!
(laughs)
WN: Oh, wow.
Thank you so much.
MC: We
appreciate you taking the time today to speak with us on the phone for
Hungerthon 2008. It’s a good
cause.
WN: It sure
is.
MC: You have a
new album out and a live DVD as well…
WN: The live
DVD and CD is Willie Nile Live from the Streets of New York. It came out about two months ago. It’s a live show with my full band. When The Streets of New York came out we did a show in New
York at the Mercury Lounge and we got the guys who played on the album and also
Jimmy Vivino; Andy York from John Mellencamp’s band, Rich Pagano from the
Fab Faux, Brad Albetta, Frankie Lee – who I write with all the time – and Jimmy
Vivino. We did a show and they
filmed it. It's the only full band show
we did, and luckily there were cameras there.
That came out recently.
I just finished recording a new album, which will come out
in April. The album that I just
recorded, I’m literally just finishing the mixes now, will be out in April.
MC: When we
talked last you said you were on a roll.
WN:
A lot
going on. I’m playing a lot of
shows. This Friday I’m off to
Europe to play a ‘Light of Day’ Parkinsons Benefit tour with Jesse Malin of
Marah and Joe D’Urso, and we’re going to Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Madrid,
Milan, Northern Wales – where we’ll play with Mike Peters of The
Alarm –
and then London where we’ll play with Damon from Badly Drawn Boy.
I’ve been doing a lot of shows. I’m
tired. I had some shows this
weekend up in Boston and The Turning Point.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing, a lot of recording, a lot of shows,
and I just found out the other day that we… last year my buddy Frankie Lee and
I made a record with this children’s band – The Dream Jam Band – and we
just won some children’s music-web awards.
ChildrensMusic.org. Best
Album, Best Song, Best New Artist. Frankie
and I wrote a song called “Niki-Niki Knock-Knock.” The Dream Jam Band,
it’s a lot of fun, good people, it’s a good project.
Frankie and I made a record with them and helped get that thing going.
I guess we’re eligible for – the Grammy nominations come out soon and
you have to pass the first part, and I guess we passed that.
It’s a busy, busy time, but a good time.
MC:
Congratulations!
That’s great. Good luck
with it. You mentioned a couple of
our good friends there. You
mentioned Turning Point and Joe D’Urso. Joe’s
a good friend of RocklandWorldRadio, as is the Turning Point.
My cousin said he saw you over at the Turning Point the other night and
he said it was fantastic.
WN:
It was a
good night. It was an acoustic
show. I played with Frankie Lee.
Frankie played the snare, and percussion, and sang.
Jimmy Vivino played guitar. He’s
the guitar player from the Conan O’Brien Show, and is a legendary player in
the east, here. We had a great
time, it was a fun night. [Owner]
John over at the Turning Point… it’s such an intimate room, everybody who
plays there loves to play there. Great place. It
was a great night.
MC: Sorry I
couldn’t be there myself.
WN:
It rocked!
MC: I’m sure
(laughs).
WN:
People
were howling and singing and clapping and jumping on tables!
It was a good night.
MC:
One thing
I wanted to ask you about the disc that is out now, and it’s on the DVD Live
From the Streets of New York, there’s a track that you revived from an older
record called “Hard Times in America” that’s really rockin’.
WN:
Thank you,
Michael. Yeah, it’s a song that I
released, I think, in ’92 – during the election back in ’92 I wanted to
put that song out - and I’ve been singing it.
It’s more appropriate now then it was back then.
It’s a song that came out great. It’s
fun to play. You know, it’s tough times in this country.
I think the country will get it together.
I believe in this country. People
are pretty tough and resilient and hard working and will right this ship. The song “Hard Times in America” came out amazing.
Andy York and Jimmy Vivino trade guitar solos and it’s just really
good. It came out great.
They played so strong. I
love this country. There’s a lot
of great people in it and we can do better and we will.
These are tough days, so I wrote a song about it and it’s more
appropriate now then it was back then, strangely enough.
MC: Yeah,
there are a lot of people facing tough times right now, and that’s all the
more reason why we should be thinking about these things Thanksgiving-time.
If you want to contribute to the Hungerthon 2008 and World Hunger Year
you can contribute by dialing 1-800-5 HUNGER.
Like I said before, it’s a great cause.
WN: Who can
argue with that? Trying to help
feed the hungry is a righteous thing. People
in this country are very generous, and we have a lot to be thankful for –
living where we live, considering a lot of other people in the world.
If people can call and contribute some money the reward from that is
deeper than some other kind of reward you can get, so please be generous.
MC: Once again, we thank you for being on the show. Let’s hear, on RocklandWorldRadio, the live version of “Hard Times in America” right now.
Part 2
WN: I didn’t
know that was song of the year 2006. That
is so nice. Thank you.
MC:
Oh, yeah.
These days I volunteer at RocklandWorldRadio, but back in 2006 – when
Streets of New York came out - I was doing a show every week and the station
owner, Richard Quinn, and I were totally into it so we played it all the time
and we dubbed it, unofficially, RocklandWorldRadio’s song of the year.
WN: That’s
nice, buddy, thank you. The new one
I just finished is called House of a Thousand Guitars. A couple of radio people are saying it’s ten times better
than the last one. I don’t know
if that’s possible, but I can’t wait for it to come out.
It will come out April 14. I
think that’s the release date. We’ve
got a lot of new stuff in the next year. There’s
a couple of other projects we’re working on.
MC:
Wow, I
don’t think you can get a recording much stronger than the last few.
WN: I was
really surprised. The sound of it
is incredible. I’ve got a guy
mixing it up in New England. I got
an e mail yesterday from Paul Rappaport. Paul
was Columbia Records head of promotion for thirty years, and he’s a big fan,
and he flipped over Streets of New York. He
just loved it. He’s not there
now, he’s managing and consulting, but when he was told by this radio promo
guy that the new album is ten times better – he described it is the best album
by a singer/songwriter in the last twenty years, that’s what he’s telling
people – Paul said, ‘That’s not possible.
It can’t be better than The Streets of New York!’
Well, he just got a copy of the rough mixes and he sent me this e mail.
He said, ‘I can’t believe it!’
So, he agrees – it’s no slouch.
My career has been one of putting records out so far apart.
That’s about to change. We’ll
be knocking them out left and right, so there’s a lot of songs to come, and a
lot of records to come. It’s
going to be fun.
MC:
That
sounds great. I can’t wait to
hear it. Keep me in the loop.
WN:
I will.
Listen, buddy, I’ve got to jump. Have
a nice Thanksgiving. I’ll see you
on the trail.
Please go to www.WillieNile.com for collectable merchandise, hand signed CDs, tour dates, and more.
Willie Nile (1980)
Golden Down (1981)
Places I have Never Been (1991)
Hard times in America [EP] (1992)
Willie Nile Live in Central Park (1997)
Beautiful Wreck of the World (1999)
Streets of New York (2006)
Live at the Turning Point (2007)
The Dream Jam Band [CD of children’s music] (2007)
Live from the Streets of New York (2008)
coming soon…
Places I have Never Been* [re-issue with bonus tracks] (2009)
House of a Thousand Guitars (2009)