[rating=8.00]
Though he might have spent his early years hanging out with the likes of Patti Smith and Television at CBGB’s, it was at the recently shuttered rock ‘n’ blues club Kenny’s Castaways on Bleecker St. where a young Willie Nile made his name shortly after moving from his hometown of Buffalo, NY down to the Greenwich Village in the mid-to-late 70s.
But on American Ride, Nile’s fourth album since his mid-00s resurgence, he strikes a perfect balance between the sonic aesthetics of both legendary venues with a collection of gritty, graceful songs that offer perhaps his strongest display of songwriting since his enigmatic 1980 debut. Here, he shifts from the edgy punk overtones of “Holy War” and a teeth-gnashing cover of Jim Carroll’s gutter poet anthem “People Who Died” to the soulful reflection of the album’s cross-country title cut with seamless ease.
However, it’s when Nile gets nostalgic for the NYC of his salad days on songs like “Life on Bleecker St.”, “Sunrise on New York City” and “There’s No Place Like Home” that this Ride proves to be a truly unforgettable experience.
