Before she played electric guitar like a God, before she became known as one of the best ever to do it, Nancy Wilson played a rented acoustic. She started when she was nine years old. The action had about two inches between the strings and the neck. But she played it with passion and burgeoning prowess. Later, Wilson joined her sister, Ann, in the seminal rock ‘n’ roll band, Heart, and the rest is Hall of Fame history. Now, with multiple time-tested hits to their credit, the sisters have become legends. (And their story is rumored to be put to film in the not-too-too-distant future.)
But there are slices of the proverbial pie that come along with being infamous that aren’t always as appetizing as the peak of a solo on stage. There’s the grueling travel, constant attention and watchful eye of the press. There’s also the simple reality that to “be a member of Heart” means you might not always get to be yourself. While it may not be the worst problem on earth, it is something to navigate concertedly. Over the years, Wilson has done just that. Now though, she is doing something she’s never done: releasing her debut solo LP.
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The record, You and Me, is out May 7th.
“When I joined Heart in ’74,” Wilson says, “I’d already been a solo artist in little coffee houses. I had an acoustic show I did all by myself for a while when I was in university. I love playing my 1963 Lake Placid Blue Telecaster more than anything in the world—that’s my main boyfriend. But the acoustic is where I started.”
Wilson’s new LP is spacious. Much of it is rooted in the nutrient-rich earth of her acoustic stylings and song composition. The album, which boasts big names like Duff McKagan and Sammy Hagar, also features a few cover tracks like Pearl Jam’s “Daughter” and Paul Simon’s “The Boxer.” Wilson says that when she began to first play guitar, she was drawn to Simon’s fingerpicking, his airy, bright emotive quality. Some of that naturally seeped into her new solo album.
“The first song I wrote for the record was ‘We Meet Again,’” Wilson says. “That was me trying to channel my inner-Paul Simon.”
As she wrote, she sent the tracks to a trio of players in her former hometown of Seattle. The group began to construct tunes together remotely. Wilson had played extensively with the three fellows previously in Heart, so the trust was there from the beginning of the writing process. The result is a twelve-song record that displays pleasant sounds as much as it does a person removed from the rush and rumble of rock stardom. It’s the dozen songs Wilson wanted to share, as herself.
“I feel like I’ve been allowed to reconnect to my own original self,” she says. “I think it’s a really meaningful time for me to be reconnected. I don’t feel like I’m a natural at doing the ‘rock’ job necessarily. I came to music as a flower child, a hippie chick. So, I feel like I’ve come back to that first place where I started when I was nine and started playing the guitar because of the Beatles.”
Ask just about anyone and they’ll say that no matter their gains in 2020, they’d trade it for a COVID-free year. Wilson echoes that, of course. Yet, even though the year was brutal and limiting, there were some positive things to come from it. Wilson, for example, was able to shelf the rigors of her normal schedule and sit down by herself to think about what meant most to her and how she wanted to express it in song.
“I was forced to sit down and shut up for a while,” Wilson says. “And go to my original self. That was a really good thing for me.”
The new record doesn’t have to sound like a Heart album. Because it isn’t one. Instead, it’s the completion and accomplishment of something Wilson says she’s always been meaning to get to. Heart has encompassed nearly 50 years of her life. Without the ability to tour in 2020, though, it took a backseat so Wilson could step forward and drive, if for just a moment. It was an important new direction for her, if for no other reason than it allowed her to embrace the lift of a new sound.
“Music is life-saving,” Wilson says. “It’s something bigger that we reach for and capture, something from a greater energy outside ourselves. I think it’s magic.”
Heart has legions of fans, many of whom have told Wilson the band’s music has saved or inspired them in difficult times. It’s a beautiful statement but also a deep, heavy one. The band has made music that will outlive them, music that has a life of its own. They’ve worked their “asses” off doing so, Wilson says, often feeling behind, never caught up. It’s a good problem. But at the same time it doesn’t quite allow room for much else. Feed the beast, as they say. But for Wilson, music is more than the business of it. If you ask her, one of her most important musical memories is seeing Elton John one day in Vancouver, B.C.
“I borrowed twenty dollars from the guy who owned the club we played in Vancouver,” Wilson says. “I gassed the car up and drove to the show on no sleep. I was going to see Elton John come hell or high water. When I got there, I tried to get in with a photographer around the back but he was like ‘nah.’ I spent the rest of my money. But it was one of the most insanely inspiring things I’ve ever done. I was frozen with inspiration.”
From that moment through now, there are many stories. Some of them are present on Wilson’s new LP. Standout songs include the hopeful “I’ll Find You,” the mesmerizing “The Dragon,” and the Tim Reynolds-esque instrumental, “4 Edward.” But maybe the best part of the record is the opportunity to sit with it and enjoy it, knowing the music has been long in the making. And while the release of the record in no way jeopardizes the fruitful future of Heart, Wilson has enjoyed the reprieve from the band, just as her sister Ann, who recently released the single “Tender Heart,” has too.
“I’ve always been kind of a hermit,” Wilson says. “I’ve never felt like I was totally cut out for the road life, per se. You pay the price to get those two hours of sheer joy on stage. I’ve been possessed by Heart for a long time. But this new album is something I’ve always wanted to do, always said I was going to do. So, now is the right time.”