New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame E Street Band member, Crazy Horse member and solo artist Nils Lofgren announced his new album Mountains will be released on July 21. The album's first single "Ain't The Truth Enough," featuring Ringo Starr on drums, was written in the wake of the January 6th insurrection and reckons with the ways that misinformation and demagoguery can tear families apart and silo us in our own realities. Mountains is now available for pre-order.
About the new single, Lofgren reflects: "One early desert morning, strong coffee in hand, I tuned my
Martin D-35 acoustic gifted to me by the great
James Caan (bless you Jimmy) to an open G and said 'write'! Soon the title and main riff were coming through me... "ain't the truth enough!" Lucky me! I felt I had to go deep and with the global war on women, and man's deadly epidemic of lies and spin for money and power, I imagined a fierce, loving mother and wife dealing with a husband recently home from the insurrection. (Cindy Mizelle added the woman's voice with great soul and power here) I felt inspired and a day later this special song was done. Not mean spirited, all truth, harsh reality."
"Ain't No Truth Enough" features performances by Nils Lofrgren (lap steel, organ, vibraphone, vocals), Ringo Starr (drums),
Kevin McCormick (bass) and Cindy Mizelle (harmony vocal).
Written and recorded at home in Scottsdale, AZ, the 10-song collection is lush and soulful, mixing rock and roll muscle with blues grit and gospel transcendence as it grapples with a world where pride and selfishness are treated as virtues and the power-hungry are rewarded for their greed and shortsightedness. The result is perhaps the most vulnerable and revealing work in Lofgren's impressive 50-year catalog, an intuitive, empathetic reflection on truth, trust, and the power of human connection delivered with the help of an all-star cast of friends including Ringo Starr, Neil Young, Cindy Mizelle, the
Howard Gospel Choir, Ron Carter and
David Crosby.
"These songs are all born of raw emotion," says Lofgren. "I gave myself permission to share my fear and my anger, my love and my hope, to be open about what I was experiencing without over analyzing or editing the life out of it."
Traditionally, Lofgren's commitment to songcraft made for a slow, deliberate process in the studio. Tracks would be written and rewritten, lyrics edited and revisited, recordings cut and then tossed aside. This time around, however, Lofgren set new rules for himself: write whatever you feel; share it no matter what. He began challenging himself to write every day, treating the process as an outlet not only for his frustration with the state of the world, but also for the joy and gratitude he felt to have so much time with his wife, Amy, who co-produced the record with him.
"The album started as a form of therapy," he explains, "but it very quickly grew beyond that. It was so freeing to work without any restrictions, to just write whatever came out, and it turned into some of the most inspired work I think I've ever made."
Concurrent with the release of Mountains, Nils will launch his Rockality video series. These 30-40 minute videos consist of Nils' storytelling at its best, as he recounts the twists and turns of his path in the world of music. These are non-rehearsed, folksy deliveries of fascinating, colorful and entertaining stories that conclude with Nils singing a song or stretching out on his guitar. Each episode will be available to purchase from nilslofgren.com starting on July 21.
"As people seem to find my musical stories entertaining for the last half century, I thought we'd share some more with you," says Lofgren. "From opening for
Jimi Hendrix on my 19th birthday with Grin, knocking on Jimi's trailer and getting to speak with him and thank him for inspiring me to be a professional rocker, back to my early high school drop-out, 17 year old runaway in Greenwich Village days, walking in on
Neil Young and Crazy Horse in DC for advice on their first tour, which lead to recording the After The Gold Rush album at 18, I've had an eventful, topsy-turvy ride for 55 years now.
Here's hoping these stories may bring a smile to your face. The times were heavy and consequential. No internet, no cell phones, Vietnam war lottery, civil rights marches, Cuban missile crisis, assassinations. All during the greatest explosion of music in mankind's history. And to boot, the greatest parents and brothers a soul could ask for, who kept a spiritual light burning, thank goodness, as I found myself on too many dark roads."
