Willie Nile “The Great Yellow Light”

The bard of New York City returns with a cautionary message for the times, laced with hope and lashings of rock ‘n’ roll.

Willie Nile and his music require little introduction to Americana music aficionados, with a 20-album catalogue, including live albums, that spans over 45 years. During this time, he has received numerous plaudits, with The New York Times proclaiming him “One of the most gifted songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years”, while such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townsend, Bono, Little Steven, Ian Hunter, and Lucinda Williams are among many who constantly sing his praises. Now, having just celebrated his 77th birthday, Nile returns with his brand new album, “The Great Yellow Light”.

Like Nile’s last six albums, “The Great Yellow Light” was recorded at Hobo Sound in Weehawken, New Jersey, and co-produced with longtime collaborator Stewart Lerman, while his core band, featuring Jimi Bones on electric and acoustic guitar, backing vocals, Johnny Pisano on bass and backing vocals, and Jon Weber on drums is all on hand. Steve Earle cements his working relationship with Nile, having also appeared on the 2021 release, “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, along with special guests such as the iconic Irish folk singer Paul Brady, along with Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian from The Hooters, and legendary sidemen Waddy Wachtel and David Mansfield.

Album opener ‘Wild Wild World’ sets the tone for much of the album, the band immediately moving through the gears, with Nile’s full-throttle vocal delivery defying the years, bursting at the seams with both passion and compassion. The following two numbers, ‘We Are, We Are’ and ‘Electrify Me’, maintain the breathless pace and in-your-face attitude, the former replete with an anthemic chorus, while the latter’s raucous punk howl supersedes anything the genre produced during its heady days of the late ’70s and early ’80s.

‘An Irish Goodbye’ offers a slight change of pace, with pipes and accordions taking centre stage, Nile sharing lead vocals with Brady on a song that embraces a similar ramshackle energy to that of The Pogues before the album’s title track delivers one of Nile’s finest songs of his illustrious career. Initially inspired by letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo and the light that inspired him in Arles, France, the song refers to those rare, magical moments of awe and wonder that make life worth living. Here, the band swaps their energetic rock ‘n’ roll swagger for a subtler but no less intense and emotive arrangement, while Nile’s vocal delivery never sounded better or more passionate.

On an album stuffed full of fiery guitar-driven, melodic songs, mixing anthemic rockers with sensitive ballads, there’s still time for a little humour as found within the lyrics of ‘Tryin’ To Make A Livin’ In The USA’, while ‘What Color Is Love’ with its piano intro and thought-provoking musings within the narrative ignites a mood of self-reflection.

Another of the album’s many highlights is ‘Wake Up America’, a clarion call to his fellow countrymen and women; the frustration in Nile’s vocal delivery almost tangible as he asks, no demands, “You used to be great, what happened to you?” confronting an America riddled with pain, injustice and division and pleads with them to listen to the angels. The presence of Earle on vocals, with all his street-wise, ragged-soaked glory, helps add a level of gravitas that punches the message home before closing number ‘Washington’s Day’ offers a prayer for hope, compassion, liberty, and most of all a better world for all mankind. Rarely in our lifetime has humanity felt more bereft or in need of such a prayer and such a song, and it is of little surprise that it arrives within the sagacious poetry of Willie Nile.

With “The Great Yellow Light”, Nile has delivered an album for the times that can proudly stand alongside the best of his great canon of work and provides ample proof that even at 77 years of age and over 45 years as a recording artist, he is still very much at the top of his game.