Willie Nile’s American Ride #1 on Billboard Heatseekers Chart

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Critically-acclaimed veteran New York singer/songwriter Willie Nile’s new album, American Ride, has debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers/Top New Artist Albums chart…not bad for an artist who just celebrated his 65^th birthday!  Nile’s latest effort, released last week via Loud & Proud Records, also cracked the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at #156.

American Ride has already received an astonishing amount of praise with American Songwriter declaring “Nile delivers one of his finest and most passionate projects with American Ride. The disc pools his widescreen urban Springsteen influences with a Petty-ish knack for melody and wonderfully catchy singalong choruses…Springsteen, Pete Townsend, Lucinda Williams and dozens of tuned in critics have all sung Willie Nile’s praises. Now it’s your turn.”  Guitar World avowed, “American Ride is just that good. It’s full of confident songwriting and performances that come from talent and experience. In fact, there isn’t a track you’ll likely skip among the 12 gems on American Ride.”  Willie Nile’s American Ride was produced by the team of Grammy Award-winner Stewart Lerman (who has worked with Nile since the ‘90s) and Nile with additional production by touring bassist Johnny Pisano and touring drummer Alex Alexander.  Check out the video for the title track here.

Willie Nile began his career playing in the clubs of New York City’s East Village.  From such humble beginnings Nile has had a storied career for more than three decades, releasing 11 albums to date (including some on such major labels as Arista and Columbia Records).  Nile’s prolific body of work has been lauded by both critics and fans (celebrity and otherwise).  Willie Nile’s celebrity fans include Bruce Springsteen, with whom he’s guested onstage multiple times, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on The Who’s 1982 U.S. tour. Other avowed Nile admirers include Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who recently remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I’d be opening up for him instead of him for me.”  Willie Nile has toured the world many times over and will soon head out on an extensive world tour in support of American Ride.