Willie Nile
The Innocent Ones

That Willie Nile has been experiencing a second phase of his career for a few years now is beyond doubt. His artistic prolificacy has never been so high, and the release of this The Innocent Ones, just a year after the more than good House of a Thousand Guitars, is the tangible confirmation of it.
Listening to the new album, you can clearly perceive how the small songwriter from Buffalo, but New Yorker by adoption, is going through a period of total musical carefree and, I think, inner joy, which enriches his lyrics.

Seen this summer on a stage, performing some songs from the new album, one got the impression of the rock'n'roll and fun imprint that the new work promised.
Echoes of Ramones, always friends and dear to Willie's heart, immediately catch the ear in the initial Singin' Bell, after the bell tolls announce and make way for news of peace, love, and freedom for soldiers on the front line. A punk'n'roll that is repeated in the choral love dedication of Can't Stay Home and Hear You Breathe. Nile enjoys himself, he no longer has to prove anything to anyone, not even to himself. Fellow musicians revere him, and for his fans, he is an idol. He seems to have found his special formula of youth. Music is an integral part of his life, and it doesn't matter much whether he shares the stage with established rock stars like Springsteen or plays in remote Italian villages in front of a few people when he completely believes in what he does.
So down with the rollingstonian rock in the story of American province told in Topless Amateur or with ballads like the Folk/country Rich and Broken, the piano-filled and hopeful Song for You or the intimate and solitary folk of Sideways Beautiful.

Nile still knows how to be an old dreamer when he sings of a guitar as the only weapon at his disposal to fight the world outside (One Guitar), and he knows how to catapult himself into the epic nature of the choral title track without forgetting the romance that still lives inside him.
Perhaps less inspired than previous works, but still a good excuse to talk about an artist, often forgotten, but who has always prioritized music and fans. Attending one of his concerts, you have evidence of how authentic and straightforward a character Nile is, so if you get a chance...