Sat
Apr 6, 2024
Split Bill
Main Stage

Willie Nile

No reservations
With opening act:  
Jeff Slate
Dining 5:30-9pm. Music 7:30pm.

“The unofficial poet laureate of New York City.”—Uncut. Willie Nile is a New York lifer—a singer-songwriter cut as much from the cloth of Greenwich Village’s folk music community as the Bowery’s punk scene. Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Jim Jarmusch, and Little Steven are among those who have sung his praises.

Willie Nile
Apr 6, 2024
  •  
Main Stage
  •  
Dining 5:30-9pm. Music 7:30pm.

One of the most brilliant singer-songwriters of the past 30 years.”—The New Yorker

“...one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.” -The New York Times

“His live performances are legendary.” - Buffalo Music Hall of Fame

Willie Nile

The New York Times called Buffalo, NY born Willie Nile "one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years." Uncut Magazine called him “A one-man Clash” and “the unofficial poet laureate of New York City”. His album Streets Of New York was hailed as “a platter for the ages” by Uncut. 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.” His single from that album, “One Guitar,” was the “Top Pick of the Week” in USA Today.

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 dozens of year-end Top Ten lists for 2013 and was voted “Album Of The Year” by Twangville Magazine. 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 great critical acclaim.

MOJO wrote about his 2016 album World War Willie, “Four Stars! The real thing…stomp-‘til-ready rock’n’roll…timeless fare.” It won Album of the Year Reader’s Poll from Twangville Magazine and made numerous top ten lists for Album of the Year.

His album Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan from 2017 was hailed as “one of the best Dylan tribute albums ever made.” Powerpop Magazine wrote: “Astoundingly great…must be heard to be believed. If this doesn’t get your blood flowing, seek medical help.” And the Associated Press said his 2018 album Children Of Paradise “Might be the best album of his career!”

Willie has toured across the U.S. with The Who and has sung with Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr. As the induction program from the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame says: “His live performances are legendary.” His 2020 album New York At Night got rave reviews, with The Associated Press calling it: “As sharp and guitar-driven as ever…the fire within Nile, once a peer of The Replacements and The Clash, continues to light a similar torch…anthemic…custom made for these times.” Downbeat Magazine calling it a “sonic love letter to Gotham.”

His recent studio album The Day The Earth Stood Still features a duet with Steve Earle on the song “Blood On Your Hands.”  The London Times called him “A man who embodies the true spirit of rock n’ roll.” The New Yorker wrote that Willie Nile is “One of the most brilliant singer-songwriters of the past 30 years.”

Last fall Willie released a new single, “Wake Up America”, a duet with Steve Earle. It’s a call for the better angels of the country to stand up and be counted.

He is releasing a new live album “Willie Nile – Live At Daryl’s House Club” this spring. PowerPop magazine wrote: "A life-changer -- recorded at a moment when Willie & company happened to be the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world!"

Willie is currently working on an Anthology double CD project for the fall and is doing some Career Retrospective shows leading up to its release. He will be touring in Europe and in North America this year and lives in New York City.

Jeff Slate:

Jeff Slate is known as a world-class frontman and songwriter on the New York City music scene, where his band’s monthly residency in the heart of Chelsea draws sellout crowds and famous guests. But it was a long and winding road to that coveted place as part of New York’s cultural firmament.

Slate came up in the mid-1980s US East Coast post-punk scene, playing CBGBs and other legendary clubs of the day as the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of the Mindless Thinkers, named by Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols at a drunken aftershow party. By the early 90s, Slate was a solo artist, and made his name after working with The Who’s Pete Townshend, touring with Sheryl Crow and founding the mod-influenced band The Badge. Taking a page from the likes of the Kinks, The Who and the Small Faces, The Badge released three albums of original material, as well as numerous singles, EPs and live releases, before going on hiatus at the end of the 00s.

Since then, Slate’s solo releases have included famous friends and A-list session players, and his songs have appeared in advertising and films, and on television, including in the hit show Gossip Girl. Slate has toured throughout the US over the past 13 years, sharing the stage with Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nile and Margo Price and Sheryl Crow, and headlining the Switchyard Festival at Tulsa’s legendary Cain’s Ballroom and Tom Petty Weekend in the late artist’s hometown of Gainesville, Florida. He’s even been an all-star counselor at the celebrated Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp!

A regular guest host on SiriusXM, Slate is the co-author of the 2017 book The Authorized Roy Orbison, with the late-legend’s sons, and has written liner notes for albums by Orbison, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, among many others. Last year, Slate interviewed Bob Dylan, one of only a handful the icon has given this century.  

Jeff’s fourth solo album, The Last Day of Summer, featuring Dave Stewart, Duff McKagan, Earl Slick and members of Paul Weller’s band and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, is due out later this year.