At the last minute, my wife, Amy, implored me to record the shows just to have them in case we wanted to use them. It was my intent to make each night a unique experience only for the people in the room. I wanted to just go town to town, the band and crew on a tour bus in these clubs all across America and just jam a lot, have a lot of fun and not worry about making a record. I intentionally had planned not to make a live record and not to record the shows. So, it was a great collection of characters. Also, we had Cindy Mizelle, who is usually booked with Steely Dan or some other big act she was interested and available and wanted to come sing with us. Tommy and I go all the way back to Grin days and, of course, grew up together and he is still as good a friend as I have. They all came out on the road: Andy Newmark on drums, Kevin McCormick on bass and my brother Tommy, who is my favourite person to play with. It was also one of the first times in decades I was able to get the band that made the record, ‘Blue with Lou’. I was doing band shows with East Street Band and the last couple of years with Neil Young and Crazy Horse but I hadn’t done my own band tours in a very long time. Mostly, I’ve been playing acoustic solo shows. It was the first time in sixteen or seventeen years that I toured with a band, an electric band. Why did you feel that now was the right time to put out the live album?Īctually, last year when I toured with the Weathered band for the ‘Blue with Lou’ album, there were a number of firsts. It certainly is and you’ve just released the new live album ‘Weathered’ recently. Well, I think room for improvement has reached an all-time high at this point on our planet! Anyway, I’m glad we are focusing on something quite a bit more hopeful in music and art and song which is certainly still the planet’s sacred weapon as far as I am concerned. You’ve had a really busy year how have you been doing? Americana UK’s Andrew Frolish caught up with Lofgren just before ‘Letter to You’ dropped to discuss the live album and what it’s been like to record and play with some of music’s finest. To top it off, Lofgren has just worked on Springsteen’s latest album, ‘Letter to You’, which was The Boss’s 12th chart-topping album in the UK. In a year bereft of gigs, this is something to savour. Then, without a break, he toured ‘Blue with Lou’, resulting in a brand new live album, ‘Weathered’, this year. Last year saw the release of studio album ‘Blue with Lou’, which featured a number of songs written with Lou Reed, and ‘Colorado’ with Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Of course, Lofgren is also known for working with Neil Young and Crazy Horse and being a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band for over 35 years. The multi-instrumentalist’s gifts are such that he is a respected figure in the industry, which has led to collaborations with the likes of Lou Reed and Patti Scialfa and an invitation to join the first two All Starr bands with Ringo Starr. His new live double-album captures that feeling. The experience of a Lofgren concert is mesmerising it’s on the stage when his energy, dynamism and true talent are on full display. Nils Lofgren has spent more than fifty years on the road as a touring musician.
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