YES!<\/p>\n
Sold out show at historic McCabe\u2019s Guitar.<\/p>\n
I was at Arista for Willie’s first album. \u00a0We could not break him.<\/p>\n
He kept at it. \u00a0He NEVER faltered, NEVER gave up.<\/p>\n
Willie is the real deal.<\/p>\n
Mike Bon<\/p>\n
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I am now on the older side of this business… but I am still 25 years younger than\u00a0Willie! But I’m a true believer\u00a0in him and all that he does.<\/p>\n
His son Luke and I were at high school together at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Buffalo, NY.<\/p>\n
I’ll never forget when “Heaven Help The Lonely” came out in 1991. I was into The Cure, Fishbone, The Replacements and Public Enemy but also Dylan, Springsteen and U2 and I really dug that song. I was just starting to get an idea of what great songcraft was and this was a lesson in it.<\/p>\n
Years on, I got to know Willie and became his promoter here in his hometown of Western New York mainly through our mutual friend: the late great independent radio promoter Bruce Moser.<\/p>\n
At that point, I had still only barely grasped Willie’s power and impact.<\/p>\n
It was when I’d be at a Springsteen show and he’d bring Willie out to play “Working On The Highway” with him and the E Street Band. Now Bruce doesn’t bring out a lot of special guests, so that meant something.<\/p>\n
Then when Bono would have a stadium on its feet but out of nowhere gave a shout out to WIllie at the height of U2’s set? Wow.<\/p>\n
You meet Willie and he’s like a South Buffalo leprechaun: his hair is half his height! He’s the biggest believer of his own myth and he sells you on it. He continues to write and produce these albums that should keep most singer\/songwriters of any worth on their toes.<\/p>\n
He knows how good he is and he is still out there playing like he’s moments away\u00a0from stardom. When you see him get up and a do his show: you also buy in. He has the songs, the power: he has that thing! Man, he’s really good.<\/p>\n
And his band is equally great: a real NYC cast of characters. His bassist Johnny Pisano is LITERALLY a backround player from The Sopranos’ Bada Bing but he’s\u00a0also a punk guy and a rock and roll lifer like Steven Van Zandt.<\/p>\n
They go out and play rooms from 150 to 500 cap but knock it out every night.<\/p>\n
Willie will not give up.<\/p>\n
Glad to see you shine a light on him.<\/p>\n
He deserves it!<\/p>\n
Danny Kutzbach<\/p>\n
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Bob<\/p>\n
Willie Nile is a national musical treasure!<\/p>\n
In 2025, I had the honor of presenting him with a \u201cCollege Radio Legend \u2018 Award for his extraordinary recording and performing career for over 45 years.<\/p>\n
Whenever you get the itch for a hit of righteous and crucial rock mixed with lyrical majesty, get yourself to a Willie Nile solo, duo or full band show !<\/p>\n
Norm\u00a0Prusslin<\/p>\n
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GREAT take on Willie Nile, who I’ve been seeing on the east coast for many years. An unknown superstar of an artist. Springsteen sings with him sometimes, usually on Willie’s anthem “One Guitar,” which should have been a massive song and is more relevant than ever, if music still has any power to change the world. And as a person Willie is maybe the nicest musician I’ve ever met, and I’ve met many. A few years ago on a new year’s eve show in New Jersey, a friend of mine, Americana singer-songwriter Lisa Bouchelle, opened the show for him. She mentioned in passing that she had a huge vet bill come up unexpectedly and was having some financial issues with it. At the end of the night Wille put a few extra bills (more than a few) in her pocket and said it’s for the vet bills. A gem of a person.<\/p>\n
Rocky<\/p>\n
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“American Ride” is one of the best albums of the last 20 years. And definitely see Willie with a full band. His bassist Johnny Pisano is one of the most entertaining players out there..<\/p>\n
Pete Kuehl<\/p>\n
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“See a MASTER at work!”: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_TNQ02QER4A<\/p>\n
Willie is one of those IYKYK artists, and man did he blow our unsuspecting audience away:<\/p>\n
Kelly Breaks<\/p>\n
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Way to go! Willie is a dear friend and we were also there last night. Glad you\u00a0finally got to see him.<\/p>\n
We first heard about him on the former Little Steven’s Garage show when it aired on KLOS upon the release of his Streets Of New York album\u00a0(a classic desert\u00a0island disk). He did his first west coast tour in decades in support of\u00a0that album and we were able to also host him for one of our house concerts and several house concerts since. What you saw last night is one of the greatest living American songwriters and yes unfortunately a lot of people don’t know about him. In songwriter circles he’s well known, Bruce Springsteen invites him on stage for tour stops in NYC and he’s even the godparent of one of Little Steven’s kids.<\/p>\n
Last year’s show at McCabe’s included the guitarist from Counting\u00a0Crows joining him on stage and a few years before that Creed Bratton joined him for a killer encore of the Grass Roots “Let’s Live for Today”. Many don’t know that actor Creed Bratton was a Grass Root.<\/p>\n
Anyway, so glad you got to see this iconic American talent live.<\/p>\n
Don Adkins<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m so glad you got to finally see Willie Nile live. His shows are like no other, whether solo or with his band.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the most gentle, genuine, and kind-hearted rock & roller but make no mistake, whenever he plays the venue that I help to run (or any other I\u2019ve seen him at), he means business and he ROCKS.<\/p>\n
And you\u2019re right about the songs – they are ANTHEMS for a better world:
\n\u201cI\u2019m a soldier marching in an army, got no gun to shoot, but what I \u00a0got is one guitar, I got this one guitar\u2026”<\/p>\n
Long live Wille Nile. And his dad!<\/p>\n
Gail Prusslin
\nMontclair, NJ<\/p>\n
_______________________________<\/p>\n
Bob<\/p>\n
Heaven help the lonely!!!!<\/p>\n
I sing along every single time I hear it<\/p>\n
Peter Stema<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve known Willie since those Kenny\u2019s Castaways days, (same neighborhood as that walk-up) and he is the real thing.<\/p>\n
Thanks<\/p>\n
Joe Henderson<\/p>\n
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Bravo Bob!\u00a0 You shone a beautiful light on Willie!<\/p>\n
He is the goods. A mensch who loves what he shares, and nothing about him, is not him!\u00a0 I have many times, after his show watched how Willie, right after stepping off stage, goes out and meets his ‘fans’!\u00a0 Chats, take pictures with all and shares his love for his beloved Father… No ego! This, is one rare,\u00a0 extraordinarly talented\u00a0 gem!\u00a0 Again, Bob,\u00a0 mega thanks!<\/p>\n
Rose Gross-Marino<\/p>\n
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So glad you wrote this Bob.<\/p>\n
Willie kills live, and solo, at McCabes, probably the ultimate Willie experience.<\/p>\n
Keeper of the flame\u2026<\/p>\n
jimeddy<\/p>\n
Ann Arbor<\/p>\n
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I like you bought Willie Nile\u2019s self titled debut. \u00a0It still remains in heavy rotation for me. Also like you, I never saw Willie live until a couple of years ago when he played a full band show for a nice summer crowd on Long Beach Island.<\/p>\n
I was blown away.<\/p>\n
They joy of standing up and singing along reminded me of concerts from long ago<\/p>\n
Willie is a true legend in my mind.<\/p>\n
Going stronger than ever at 78.<\/p>\n
Glad you enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
Donald Furrer<\/p>\n
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I LOVE WILLIE NILE!<\/p>\n
Bill Green<\/p>\n
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I love it when anyone totally gets what I do about an artist. And especially when you do.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never heard of him when I first saw him play at The Carleton in Halifax. Mike Campbell runs a thing he calls an Urban Folk Festival. \u00a0He books three people whose music he loves \u201cfrom away\u201d and sets them up with a true all star local band.<\/p>\n
That show. \u00a0Willie with The Halifax Allstars remains in my top five live shows. \u00a0It would have been an easy remodelling the next day because they took the paint off the walls.<\/p>\n
How do I describe what I saw and how I felt? I don\u2019t need to. \u00a0You just did. That same feeling of how is it everyone doesn\u2019t know this guy, to the enjoyment of songs heard for the first time. Rock and Roll lives here.<\/p>\n
Jeff Pinhey in Halifax<\/p>\n
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I loved Willie Nile\u2019s first LP and was a music director at a small station in the South and we played Vagabond Moon and It\u2019s All Over and some others. But the phones didn\u2019t light up.<\/p>\n
I got his second LP and liked it but then I lost track of his releases until Streets of New York in 2006. It\u2019s absolutely one of my favorite albums!<\/p>\n
I saw Willie at McCabe\u2019s years ago and sure wish I\u2019d known he was there whenever you saw him.<\/p>\n
Glad to know he\u2019s still killing it.<\/p>\n
Bill Fitzhugh<\/p>\n
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As a long time Willie Nile fan, thank you For this.<\/p>\n
Rik Shafer<\/p>\n
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Hey Bob: Thrilled you got to see one of the best kept secrets in rock ‘n roll. I first saw Willie live with a full band at Theodore’s Blues Booze and Barbecue Restaurant in Springfield, MA in the early 2000’s. He tore the roof off. I’ve been a diehard fan ever since and have seen plenty of his acoustic and electric shows. I’ve told so many friends about the guy. His live shows are always memorable. He is remarkably gifted singer songwriter and a sweet down to earth guy.<\/p>\n
My favorite filmmaker Jim Jarmusch says of Willie “…he continues to live somewhere below the radar, crafting his songs from street level observations and the leanings of his heart.”<\/p>\n
And from Lucinda Williams “…Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in the world, I’d be opening up for him instead of him for me.”<\/p>\n
And when Bruce Springsteen plays Jersey or New York, he often brings Willie up on stage.<\/p>\n
Great great great interview with Mr. Nile on NPR from 2006…<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2006\/03\/12\/5258097\/on-the-streets-of-new-york-with-willie-nile<\/p>\n
Cob Carlson
\nBoston<\/p>\n
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Saw him \u00a0last week at Joe\u2019s Pub, Bob and he was amazing , also saw him solo at CityWinery last year \u00a0doing a 2 night early and late career thing\u2026not sure why I I didn\u2019t connect earlier but now I can\u2019t get enough\u2026 It\u2019s a little like Jesse Malin who I also found in the past couple years\u2026saw his show Silver Manhattan recently and in the same way can’t understand why both Willie and Jesse aren’t more well known …glad you enjoyed it…John Canavari<\/p>\n
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I first heard Willie Nile on the ‘Largo’ album (I think you understandably breezed right over this one on your episode with Eric Bazilian).\u00a0 I picked up a used copy of the CD at one of those used CD places that used to exist.\u00a0 The cover kind of jumped out at me because it was some sort of cardboard thing rather than the standard jewel case, and I also wondered if the album was someone’s modern take on Dvorak.\u00a0 Anyway, back to Willie.\u00a0 He sang “Medallion” which was one of my least favorite cuts on the album, so I kind of forgot about him.<\/p>\n
Fast forward about 10 years and I was talking about music with this cat who grew up on Long Island and was sort of obsessive about the NYC music scene.\u00a0 He was raving about Garland Jeffreys, Mink DeVille and Willie Nile one night while we were out drinking, and I was reminded of Willie’s name.\u00a0 I went out and got the self titled album and was hooked right off the bat with “Vagabond Moon”.<\/p>\n
I finally got to see him play as a showcase artist at Folk Alliance International about 5 years after that.\u00a0 He sure wasn’t folk.\u00a0 He oozed pure New York cool.\u00a0 He was Willie. Glad he’s still out there doing it.<\/p>\n
Todd Shelton<\/p>\n
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I thought that might have been you at the show\u2026 Happy to see that it was and you saw what we did too. We followed you out the door, I think, although when you went to your seat just before showtime I mentioned to my wife that it might be you\u2026<\/p>\n
I admittedly didn\u2019t know Willie\u2019s name but I\u2019m forever reading the McCabe\u2019s emails and thinking of the shows I should try to go to, and the combination of their write-up and the timing worked well so we jumped. I should motivate to see Tom Rush this summer (especially as a New England guy) but we shall see. I think the last show we saw there was 10+ years ago. We clearly have been missing out.<\/p>\n
(We saw Jimmie Webb last Friday at Catalina Bar & Grill, in part informed\/inspired by your interview with him).<\/p>\n
I was thinking this week that as I listen to all your podcasts, the 2 hours or so I listen to you every week puts you high on the leaderboard of people I spend time with outside of work during any given week – inclusive of all but one family member who lives under our roof. A curious thing.<\/p>\n
Keep doing what you\u2019re doing. Hope your health issues are resolving.<\/p>\n
Regards<\/p>\n
John Kimble<\/p>\n
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You bring the truth.. Been catching Willie perform for too many years and wondering why he hasn\u2019t caught on with the people. His full band shows are also must sees as he brings the show, so much music, so many shows, just not enough time. Once again, thank you Bob.<\/p>\n
Thanks Clint,<\/p>\n
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I’m a huge Willy fan and I’ve been seeing him since the early 80s. You are correct in saying his live shows are his identity but his LPS are great as well! To say he’s never had a breakthrough hit it is not exactly correct, Vagabond Moon from the first LP and Golden Down from his second LP where what I would call hits!<\/p>\n
mrscott616<\/p>\n
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I\u2019ve seen Willie Nile, go see Willie Nile.<\/p>\n
All the best,<\/p>\n
Bruce Lorenz<\/p>\n
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Hey Bob, thx for the story on Willie. Willie does have a great rock’n’roll band based in nyc. The bass player is Johnny Pisano, the drummer is Jon Weber, and sorry, can’t tell you who the current lead guitarist is. I know Jon Weber because he has a rehearsal spot in the Music Building in Manhattan, as do I. They kick ass! You can find multiple YouTubes, including them playing at the NJ Light of Day benefit shows along with Bruce.<\/p>\n