Willie Nile Brings Career Arc Like No Other to The Suffolk

There’s no one way to be a musician, but many have followed the a similar career arc: release some albums in your 20s, get some success and make a name for yourself, coast off of that success for a few years and then inevitably either burn out or fade away as you get older.

But singer-songwriter Willie Nile has had a career that has defied this common path. In a life that has eschewed aspirations of the limelight, the 76-year-old Nile has had one of the most unique career arcs of any musician, with his greatest success coming in his older years as he continues to write, record and tour, while also being able to collaborate with some of the most legendary names in rock.

And now, he’ll be bringing his raw and energetic rock and roll sound to The Suffolk in Riverhead on Thursday, August 15, at 8 p.m.

Born and raised in Buffalo, Nile moved to New York City in the late 1970s, a place that has served as his creative home for decades. At the time, New York was the center of the emerging punk and new wave movements, a scene which Nile likened to Hamburg in the early 1960s when the Beatles had their residency there. He called this emerging scene “so original, so unique” compared to what has happening in rock music at the time.

At the heart of the scene was CBGB, the legendary East Village venue on the Bowery where Nile began performing during this time. He recalled it being much different than other venues of the era.

“The interesting thing about CBGB was that, at the time, if you wanted to play with a band in a club, you had to play cover songs,” said Nile in a recent phone interview. “But at CBGB, you couldn’t do that — you had to play original material. And it was night and day.”

While groups like Talking Heads, Ramones and Blondie got mainstream attention, Nile continued to sharpen his craft night after night. His breakthrough moment came in 1978 when Robert Palmer, a noted writer from The New York Times, came to one of Nile’s opening gigs at Kenny’s Castaways, another major venue in Greenwich Village, and wrote a rave review about him. Soon after, he signed with Arista Records and released his first two albums in 1980 and 1981. Though not commercially successful, the albums were well received by music critics and the future looked bright for the up-and-coming Nile.

But his journey soon took an unexpected turn, as prolonged problems with a former manager and a former lawyer led him to fully walk away from the music industry in 1982. Nile recalled it being a hard decision, but he had to do it to save his love of music.

“I just thought, this is not fun, this is not what I came here for,” he said. “And I said to my wife ‘let’s get out of here.’ And so I just walked away from the business.”

He moved back to Buffalo, where for five years he worked to get whatever money he could to support his children. It was a difficult time for him, but he kept writing songs with the hope that one day he would be back.

His re-emergence began when he appeared at a benefit concern in Oslo, Norway, in 1987, his first live performance in five years. He had a friend videotape the concert, which he then presented to Columbia Records, leading to him landing a record deal with them.

After his stint with Columbia, Nile began self-releasing albums in 2000, which marked the start of a creative renaissance for him. While most musicians tend to slow down as they get older, Nile has been quite the opposite. He’s released 10 of his 14 studio albums since the turn of the century, and continues to be inspired to write.

“Maybe I’m one of the lucky ones where the inspiration just keeps coming,” he quipped. “It’s not normal but I’m grateful for it.”

Among the works of his remarkable post-millennium run is the 2006 album “Streets of New York,” which focuses on his observations and experiences in the big city. He said that when he wrote what would become the album’s title track, he didn’t think much of it. But then he showed it to a friend of his, who called it his favorite song that Nile has written, and soon noticed a pattern in the songs he had been working on.

“I liked the song, but I didn’t realize it could be a title track,” he said. “And when I started putting that collection of songs together, I realized that these songs were all written about and inspired by New York City.”

Nile referred to New York as “a real place of inspiration to me” and said that spending so much time there has “taught me so much and it’s still teaching me things.”

Something else that distinguishes Nile’s career from many of his contemporaries is the number of musicians he has gotten to collaborate and share a stage with over the years. This impressive list includes Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen, who Nile joined on stage at concerts at Shea Stadium and Giants Stadium.

But one of the experiences that stuck with him the most was when he went on the road with The Who in the summer of 1980 as their opening act. He was invited to open for the band after their manager, Bill Curbishley, saw him performing with his band at The Roxy in Los Angeles, and described it as the trip of a lifetime.

“It was absolutely incredible to see The Who night after night, one of the greatest all-time bands with the wildest fans on the planet,” he said. “It was so much fun, I’ll never forget it. And it’s the kind of thing that as a kid, you don’t even dream about something like that, and it happened.”

But no group means more to him than his own backing band. He said that “I’ve been very lucky with amazing bands” over the course of his career. These musicians have helped him put on high-energy shows that he described as uplifting for the audience.

“My shows are feel-good shows,” he explained. “If you come to one of my concerts, you’re gonna leave feeling a hell of a lot better than when you went it.”

Nile said that he’s having more fun playing shows now than at any other point in his career. Even as he gets older, he still puts all his energy into delivering a great show for his audiences.

For Nile, it’s never been about chasing fame. He’s driven by a love of music that’s rare to find even in young musicians. For Nile, it’s all about writing songs and hitting the road to spread the uplifting power of music that’s been his life’s driving force.

“Life is real, people die and music can lift us up and make some sense of it,” he said. “I’m a believer of the better angels of our nature and I believe there’s good in a lot more people that you’d think. I try to share that and spread that word, and I got a band that can drive that home like nobody’s business.”

Willie Nile performs in concert at The Suffolk on Thursday, August 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29 to $59 at thesuffolk.org. The Suffolk is at 118 East Main Street in Riverhead.