Out now: Willie Nile's new album 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

Nile has put out some solid studio efforts of late, especially 2017's Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan and last year's New York at Night. I need to get a copy and check it out soon...

Veteran New York rocker Willie Nile has tapped into his own lockdown experience as a source of inspiration for his new release The Day the Earth Stood Still. 

It is available now via River House Records.

Although the singer-songwriter borrowed its title from the beloved 1951 science-fiction movie classic, the album was actually inspired by the sight of Nile’s beloved hometown temporarily turned into a desolate ghost town, thanks to COVID-19 safety precautions.

“It came from seeing the deserted streets of downtown Manhattan, with all the shops and stores boarded up and all these beautiful buildings looking down on everything,” Nile recalls in a press release.

“I have a storage space near the Holland Tunnel, and normally on a Friday night at rush hour, it can take an hour to move five blocks. But one Friday night last June, while walking home from my storage space and crossing Varick Street, I realized that there wasn’t a car in sight, and that I could have laid down in the middle of the street without anyone noticing. The title The Day the Earth Stood Still hit me, and I carried it around in my head for awhile, and eventually it sparked this set of songs.”

The title became the jumping-off point for Nile’s 14th studio effort which features 11 new original compositions. Among them is “Where There’s a Willie There’s a Way” (co-written by fellow musical veteran Michael Des Barres), “Blood on Your Hands,” a duet with Nile’s West Village neighbor Steve Earle, and “The Justice Bell,” inspired by Nile’s encounter with civil rights icon and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.

“I always write about the world around me, and this time around, the world around me was a little crazier than usual,” Nile observes. “These songs were inspired by the pandemic, injustice, politics, love, compassion, joy, sorrow, ignorance, human suffering, man’s inhumanity to man — the usual riddles and mysteries of life, and of course the occasional hell-raising rock ’n’ roll song or two.”

Nile recorded The Day the Earth Stood Still with his longtime producer Stewart Lerman (whose other credits range from Elvis Costello to Mumford and Sons) and his longstanding live band. “We recorded this album in January 2021,” Nile notes. “We all wore masks the whole time and did our best to keep things safe. The whole band, except me, had actually caught COVID on our last gig before the pandemic hit, on February 29, but everyone recovered. I’ve made nine albums with Stewart now, and it’s always magic and always fun. This one was especially inspiring, despite the extra hassle. The basic tracks were recorded fast, and seven or eight of the songs still have the original live vocal.”

Watch Willie Nile (with Steve Earle) in the video for Blood On Your Hands: https://youtu.be/gNZ3leSZM6Y

“These are turbulent times. This song is about dancing with the devil. Whether it’s something personal between two people or politics on a world stage, if you dance with the devil you can get blood on your hands. It’s a universal theme. Greed, selfishness and pride aren’t limited to governments. Things like that happen between people on a personal level all the time. On a larger scale, the pandemic has had devastating consequences globally, as have all the wars in the past century. When governments put money and power ahead of people’s lives there’s a price to be paid and, sadly, there are a lot of countries on this planet who are guilty of it. Steve Earle was kind enough to sing with me on this. I’m a big fan and it’s a great honor to have him on it. Thank you Steve!”

“Willie Nile is the embodiment of Rock n Roll walking down McDougal Street,” describes Earle.

Willie Nile’s dual passions for life and music has fueled his long-running musical career, which took off after the Buffalo, N.Y. native made his way to New York City in the early 1970s. After establishing himself as a popular performer on the downtown club scene, Nile attained national status with a trio of widely acclaimed major-label albums — Willie Nile, Golden Down and Places I Have Never Been — before going the indie route with a lengthy series of acclaimed independent releases, including Beautiful Wreck of the World, Streets of New York, House of a Thousand Guitars, The Innocent Ones, American Ride, World War Willie, Children of Paradise, New York at Night, the acoustic If I Was a River, and the covers collection Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan.

Releasing albums and touring internationally on his own terms has allowed Nile to expand his loyal fan base to encompass much of the planet. His longtime admirers include Bruce Springsteen, with whom Nile has guested onstage on multiple occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on the Who’s historic 1980 U.S. tour. The list of avowed Nile fans also includes Bono, Lou Reed, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, 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.”

Of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' Nile says, “I'm so proud of this album. It was born of a pandemic nightmare, but I think that it offers hope, and passion, for better days to come. That’s what I need, as a person and an artist. And everyone brought their “A” game to the studio.

“I still feel as driven and inspired as I’ve ever felt, and I feel like I’m currently doing some of my best work,” Nile states. “I don’t know why the songs are still coming to me like they are. I just try to get them down as best I can. And I’m fortunate to have a great team of people around me to help bring the songs to life. Anybody who’s seen me perform with this band knows that nobody’s phoning it in, and that these guys give everything they’ve got, every show, every song, every night.”

Upcoming shows:

Sat., Aug. 21 TARRYTOWN, NY Tarrytown Theater,
Sun., Aug. 22 NEW YORK, NY City Winery (new album release show)
Sat., Aug. 28 WASHINGTON DC The Hamilton
Wed., Sept. 1 WOODBRIDGE, NJ Woodbridge HS Fields. 1 Samuel Lupo Place. Free show
Sat., Oct. 2 BEACON, NY Towne Crier
Sat., Oct. 16 THREE OAKS, MI Acorn Theater.
Sun., Oct. 17 EVANSTON / CHICAGO, IL SPACE
Mon., Oct. 18 ANN ARBOR, MI The Ark
Fri., Nov. 19 HOLYOKE, MA Gateway Theater