In the ‘60s they dubbed folk artist Dave Van Ronk as the poet laureate of Greenwich Village. Today Greenwich Village resident, the veteran rocker Willie Nile, would be considered by many to be the poet laureate of the city at large. The Day The Earth Stood Still is Nile’s 14th studio album, and, though a bit less direct than last year’s New York at Night, a direct homage to his adopted hometown, a town that is now starting to see some of its busy street life and shuttered night life return. In a sense this is a sequel.
Nile recorded this, like his last six albums at Hobo Sound, across the river in Weehawken, NJ with longtime co-producer Stewart Lerman (Elvis Costello, Neko Case) and backed by his road band – guitarist Jimi K. Bones, bassist Johnny Pisano, and drummer Jon Weber along with keyboardist Andy Burton. Multi-instrumentalist Steuart Smith (Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell). The album was recorded masked and socially distanced in January 2021 with basic tracks recorded fast and seven or eight of the vocals remaining from the first take. There are notable background vocalists including songwriters Frankie Lee, James Maddock, and Joe Crowley well as Marc Jonson on backgrounds and additional keys. On “Way of the Heart,” not only one of the best songs herein, but one of the best of Nile’s career, co-written with Lee, the band is as follows: Nile (acoustic guitars, piano, vocals), Frankie Lee (drums, tambourine, bkg vocals), Steuart Smith (electric guitar), Stewart Lerman (bass).
Nile is one of the best combinations of songwriter and rocker we’ve had over the past three decades and his albums seem to get progressively better each time out. There’s plenty to admire in his writing whether it be romance, humor, or just his fervent embrace of rock n’ roll. While New York at Night likely provided some joyous relief for those stuck at home during the pandemic, Nile used the time to write another batch of 11 new songs inspired by the state of his desolate, abandoned city, beginning with the rollicking title track, named for the 1951 sci-fi movie of the same name.
While many will take away the strong rockers like “Sanctuary” and the humorous “Where There’s a Willie There’s a Way” as the defining songs on the album, Nile displays his versatility, teaming with West Village neighbor Steve Earle on the politically tinged “Blood on Your Hands” and sets forth himself in the fervent piano ballad “The Justice Bell,” which was inspired with his encounter with the late civil rights hero, Congressman John Lewis.
Stones-like chords introduce “Expect Change,” another imbued with impassioned choruses of background vocalists, and one that as much as any reflects Nile’s natural affinity and deep love for a rousing rock n’ roll tune. His nasty, brash streak comes out in “I Don’t Remember You” while “Off My Medication” hearkens to his punk roots and threatens to go off the rails at any minute with lines such as “I sold my house bought a farm and set the place on fire cause I’m /Off my medication.” That zaniness is followed with an empathetic ballad in “I Will Stand.” The rousing, optimistic rocker follows in “Time To Be Great.” The closer, already mentioned, “The Way of the Heart” is the stunning epitome of Nile’s gift as a songwriter.
Nile’s string of these three albums from 2018’s Children of Paradise to 2020’s New York at Night to this one is arguably as good as any songwriter be it Dylan, Mitchell, Earle, or whoever you want to name. At the time Nile said this about Children of Paradise – “It’s full of fire and passion and spirit, and it feels like real life to me. The songs come out of the box roaring and rocking, yet there are also songs of intimacy and tenderness. It’s got the power and promise of what I love best about rock n’ roll. It’s heartfelt, pissed off, in love, on fire and out of its mind all at the same time.” Much the same can be said about this one.
