Willie Nile Band with special guest James Maddock
Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 8:00 PM at SOPAC
Willie Nile
The New York Times has called Willie Nile “one of the most gifted Singer-Songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.” His album Streets Of New York was hailed as “a platter for the ages” by UNCUTmagazine. Rolling Stone listed The Innocent Ones as one of the “Top Ten Best Under-The-Radar Albums of 2011” and BBC Radio called it “THE Rock ‘n’ Roll album of the year.”
Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Jim Jarmusch and Little Steven are among those who have sung his praises. His album, American Ride, won “Best Rock Album of the Year” at the Independent Music Awards. It appeared on over one hundred year-end Top Ten lists for 2013 and Bono called it, “One of the great guides to unraveling the mystery that is the troubled beauty of America.”
In November 2014, he released an album of piano-based songs, If I Was A River, to universal critical acclaim. “One of the most brilliant Singer-Songwriters of the past thirty years” said The New Yorker. No Depressionraved “Willie Nile’s artistic renaissance continues unabated.”
His 2016 album World War Willie appeared on numerous year end top ten lists as did hid his live shows. As American Songwriter said, “Nile cranks up the volume and tears into these tunes with the same hunger, passion and exuberance he displays in his legendary sweat-soaked shows.” World War Willie was voted “Album Of The Year” by Twangville Magazine and the song “Forever Wild” was named “Coolest Song In The World” by Little Steven’s Underground Garage. In 2017, he released the critically acclaimed album Positively Bob – Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan.
Willie has toured across the U.S. with The Who and has sung with Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. As the induction program from the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame says: “His live performances are legendary.”
James Maddock
A Rock ‘n Roll lifer, James Maddock has been carving his unique path since the 1980s, when the British-born Singer-Songwriter kicked off his career with a raw, soulful voice; a storyteller’s sense of narrative; and the ability to blur the lines between Folk, Classic Pop and Rock.
Since those early days in London, he’s ridden the wave of a music industry that’s ebbed, flowed, peaked and crashed. Maddock has stayed afloat throughout the entire ride, enjoying a brush with commercial success during the late 1990s – including a major-label record deal, a Top 5 AAA radio hit and a song placement on Dawson’s Creek – before transforming himself into an independent solo artist during the decades that followed. Bruce Springsteen is a fan. So is David Letterman. Listening to Maddock’s newest record, Insanity vs Humanity, it’s easy to see the appeal.