Nils Lofgren, American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter and member of the E Street Band chats with Kevin Cooper about celebrating 50 years in the music business, how Bruce Springsteen revived his career, why the UK is so special to him and his forthcoming tour of the UK.

Nils Lofgren is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band since 1984, a former member of Crazy Horse, and founder and front man of the band Grin. Lofgren was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of the E Street Band in 2014.

He joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as the replacement for Steven Van Zandt on guitar and vocals, in time for Springsteen’s massive Born In The U.S.A. Tour. The E Street Band toured again with Springsteen in 1988 on the Tunnel Of Love Express And Human Rights Now! In 1989 Springsteen broke up the E Street Band, but Lofgren and Van Zandt rejoined when Springsteen revived the band in 1999 for their Reunion Tour.

Lofgren continues to record and to tour as a solo act, with Patti Scialfa, Neil Young, and as a two-time member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. Many of the people he worked with on those tours appeared on his 1991 album, Silver Lining. In 2006 Lofgren released Sacred Weapon, featuring guest appearances by David Crosby, Graham Nash, Willie Nelson and Martin Sexton. In 2006 he recorded a live DVD, Nils Lofgren & Friends: Acoustic Live at the Legendary Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia.

In September 2008, Lofgren had hip replacement surgery for both of his hips as a result of years of performing flips on a trampoline whilst on stage.

In August 2014, a box set, Face The Music, was released on the Fantasy label. The career-spanning retrospective contains nine CD’s and a DVD covering 45 years.

Whilst busy rehearsing for their forthcoming tour of the UK, he took some time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Hi Nils how are you?

I’m good Kevin how are you?

I’m very well thank you and let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

It’s absolutely my pleasure and thank you for helping to spread the word about my forthcoming UK tour. I’m hoping that together we can get some people there who will enjoy it.

And I have to ask you, how is life treating you at this moment in time?

You know life is treating me great. Having said that I certainly had my fair share of bumps and bruises the same as anyone who is sixty-six years old plus I have recently been working through my fiftieth year on the rock road. However, here I am in beautiful mild Arizona with my lovely wife Amy of twenty-two years, my dog Pack, and I have actually spent the last week putting together my UK tour. I am actually getting excited at the thought of getting on a bus and moving from town to town and hopefully we will make some great music for everybody over there in the UK.

You and I last spoke prior to the release of Face The Music, the ten CD box set retrospective look at your career. Were you happy with the fans reaction to the release?

(Laughter) that’s right we did and yes I was; the fans seem to love the box set. I have to tell you that the box set was a labour of love which I got involved with for Fantasy Records. I didn’t think that they did box sets for people who hadn’t had a hit record but they let me handpick every song. Amy produced the art packaging, so we are all very proud of it, and yes it was very well received. I spent two and a half years working on it, handpicking the very best of every record, every basement tape bonus track demo, and as you know the tenth disc is a DVD. My buddy Dave Marsh who I asked to write the foreword actually insisted that I write a hundred and thirty-eight page story, track by track, of my experiences, which was a job that I didn’t want but we tried it and I have to admit it really did read well with Dave’s editing help and it was a much more authentic story coming from me (laughter).

You also released UK2015 Face The Music Tour which was the live album of your 2015 UK Tour. Whose idea was that?

Being honest with you I have to tell you that it was actually my wife Amy’s idea to release the live album. She just thought that me and Gregg (Varlotta) were playing some really good shows and that it would be a fabulous time for us to share them with the fans. We had been over there in the UK playing for the last ten years so it was nice to finally share those experiences with the fans. So I really do feel great about all of it; the live album, the box set and the tour.

On the subject of the box set you should take a look at Amazon here in the UK.

Really, why is that?

They are currently selling it for four hundred pounds.

You have got to be kidding me? That really is ridiculous. Please let the people know that they can go to nilslofgren.com and I will ship it to you for a hundred and thirty-nine US Dollars. What’s that, about ninety pounds or something like that? Obviously I would say to anyone who wants a copy of the box set please don’t do that, please go to nilslofgren.com and we have it in the store for a quarter of that price. Please let people know that we are selling the box set and it is the best deal on the planet. That’s awful news but hey, it’s like making bootleg tickets legal. There are just far too many freedoms running around inappropriately causing problems like that.

Swiftly moving on, are there currently any thoughts on a new studio album and if there are, what can you tell me about it?

I am happy to say that yes there are. I have just started working on a new album, and I am very excited about the batch of songs that I have. I am hoping that by the end of the year it will be all done, and then I can get a brand new solo record out early next year. And maybe, just maybe I will see if I can get a band together to come over to the UK and play some of the new songs for you. We will just have to wait and see. Once again I have cut more songs than I am going to use so I can’t speak about specifics as yet because some things that you think are great simply don’t work out and something that you thought was maybe a B Side actually turns into something special.

But Andy Newmark, who is a great American session drummer and who now lives over there in the UK, flew in. Andy is a dear friend who has made five or six records with me. Plus Kevin McCormick, an amazing bass player from Ventura, California who has produced a few of my records came over. Andy, Kevin and I did the Wonderland album together back in the early 80s and we have been working together on and off ever since. Andy and I go back to 1977 when I made the We Came To Dance album. And those guys were really great, they gave me a great foundation of a record and now my job is to turn it into a finished album and that’s what I will be doing for the rest of the year other than some work out on the road.

Of course getting home after a three week run in England just gets your voice and your instincts sharpened and so that will be a great time for me to jump in and make a record this summer. Basically it will be an electric record; there are a couple of tracks that I wrote on the piano together with a couple I wrote on acoustic guitars, but it is a little more than an aggressive electric, there is a little Blues tint to it. But then again that’s not the rule; it’s just the overall direction that this record is going.

I have to say that I actually feel that both your playing and singing are sounding better than ever. Would you agree?

I actually do really feel that way. I started out when I was really young and I was immature but I had a love for what I did. I managed to get myself into the professional game early on at seventeen years old, but yes, I feel like over the years slowly I have improved. Hey, look I had to put the trampoline into the closet, but as far as singing and playing, I do think in general that my sensibilities of what’s good and what’s not together with my timing have improved. The place where I learn the most is being in front of a live audience. As you know I have done an enormous amount of live work over the last fifty years professionally and years before that just as an amateur guitarist so it is what I love to do the most, and it is where I learn the most. I think that slowly but surely, maybe at a snail’s pace, but I do feel like I am improving still

If music hadn’t taken off for you, did you have a plan B?

No I didn’t. You have to remember that I was a classical accordion player for almost a decade; plan B was to probably get myself a residency at The Holiday Inn lounge playing the hits of the day on my Cordovox and make a living doing that. If I couldn’t have even done that then I have no idea what I would have done. I always liked mechanical drawing and thought a little about becoming an architect but I don’t have the discipline for that. Fortunately I fell in love with music and thanks for some gifts from my parents; it led to this beautiful fifty years on the road. So yes, I think that I would have wound up doing something in music.

If it hadn’t have been for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and that whole British Invasion back in the 60s I would most probably be in a Ramada Inn lounge playing the pop hits of the day on my Cordovox and probably not being too happy about it (laughter). I would have always liked to have done something musical.

Tell me a little about Blind Jam Date?

I am so pleased that you have asked me that question. If the people out there go to my website nilslofgren.com there is a new eighty minute DVD called Blind Date Jam. There are clips there where the people can check it out and see what it looks like. The thing about Blind Date Jam is that this happens when musicians don’t have charts, don’t have tapes, and more to the point they don’t know what they are going to play. They just get together with their instruments, someone will throw out an idea, count to four and they go and react, exploring the idea on the spot that they have never heard before, and they will never play again. It came out great and it is something that I have done my whole life.

I realised that people never get to see that side of musicians together. It’s primitive and raw but it’s a different slice of what musicians do when they are on the spot; they don’t have the chance to do any homework or refine any of the parts. It was like that when I recorded the Tonight’s The Night album. I told the guys that I didn’t want them to learn the songs too much; I wanted them to play live, I wanted it to be raw and rough, so we did it live in the studio. We were not too familiar with the songs before we recorded them. Sometimes I would take that to the extreme where the guys never heard anything at all. It’s just a jam idea; there is some singing and there are a few instrumentals, and I would like to encourage the people to check out the clips, see what they think and give it a shot if they like it.

It sounds like a Nils Lofgren show.

(Laughter) that’s right because as you know I improvise a lot at my shows, and that is one of the reasons why it is good to have Gregg (Varlotta) there with me. He can hold down a rhythm and I can just start finger picking all of the parts and go off and play lead guitar for a while and have some fun with it.

The last time that you were here I popped down to The Stables in Milton Keynes to see the show and, as usual, you didn’t fail to satisfy or entertain.

Thank you, that’s always nice to hear. When we got to the venue we found that they had changed the room and I have to say that it was a very unusual room but The Stables is a place that we get to on almost every trip. Look, we have had a great time over the past decade coming there to play and I will go as far as to say that it is an extra charming event for me because Amy likes to come along with me as she loves England but she doesn’t get to come with me that often. We always have a show after the show where we encourage the venue to keep the bar keeper on so that people can buy a pint. I will sign anything and everything and I will sell you a T-shit or two together with a few CD’s if that’s what you want (laughter). It’s nice for me to get an immediate personal review from the people who were actually in the building listening.

Having said that, this year you have changed venues and instead of The Stables you will be playing at The Town Hall in Birmingham.

Yes, and to be honest, I didn’t realise that until recently (laughter). I have never played there but hey, we hope that there is enough ticket demand to warrant us moving up to the new venue. It is still quite an intimate place, but I did notice that it was a new venue on the tour list. Look, my goal is to put on a great show, no matter what room I’m in, and hopefully that will bear out for the people that show up wherever it is that we are playing.

What can we expect to hear on the forthcoming UK Tour?

Well for a start we are going to be playing some different songs, a few different arrangements, change up the show a bit, so that is plenty for me to be working on right now (laughter). I am just so happy to jump on my bus and drive from town to town, playing my music, trying to inspire a few people along the way. As always I hope that the audience will take away a few good memories of the evening with them as they leave the venue. I want the show to be a great experience for them. I don’t want to be any greedier than that at the moment (laughter).

Can you believe that you have spent fifty years on the road?

After seeing all of the friends and heroes that I have recently had to say goodbye to, well at the end of the day I have to feel extremely grateful to still be working even though it is a bit daunting. Fortunately I am still not using a teleprompter and I can remember most of my own songs (laughter).

As we have already mentioned, you are coming back to the UK in May to celebrate your fifty years on the road. What is it about the UK that is so special to you?

Well I started out as a classical accordion player, and it was really The Beatles who were the very first band to get my attention both emotionally and musically. At that time I was too young and everything was too square in rock and roll. And then all of a sudden the floodgates opened through The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, together with The British Invasion. It was at that time that I also discovered Motown, Stax, Volt, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Richard. And to this day I owe a big debt of gratitude to those guys. Way back, even before I came over to tour the UK I came over on what you would now call a field trip.

Whilst I was there I did some acoustic guitar playing with Greg Reeves, the great bass player on the After The Gold Rush album. Graham Nash was kind enough to let me hang out with him at the recording studio and it also meant that I had a friend in London who I could hang out with occasionally. I just loved walking the streets and being in this mythical place where all of this music happened. Of course it happened all over the UK but London in particular was a famous town, and it still is. Fast forward to after the After The Gold Rush album I ended up back in the UK in 1973 on tour with Neil (Young).

Of course I loved it and that was the tour that I was on when I wrote Please Don’t Go and so I started looking for a promoter. I was then asked if I wanted to tour the UK and I said “no you will have to ask Neil” and the promoter said “no I am talking about you touring with your music”. At that time no one over there in the UK knew about me, but that was the start of things for me in the UK. I started to come over in 1975 and I have been coming back ever since. And I truly couldn’t be more grateful. It is just a mythical and special place. And now even past the history of me being inspired off the classical accordion and changing my life for good on this musical journey that started really with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Now there are hundreds of people who, if I get to their small town, will come out to see me on a Tuesday evening and expect me to do something good. I meet them afterwards, they tell me that I have done a good job and I will be back. The UK has become a very powerful place for me to tour and play, and also I have got to admit that it means that I do not have to go to airports every day. I just have to jump on a bus and have my wife along. It is all very grass roots and back to the basics. I have certainly grown up to be a musician who by far enjoys the live performance aspect of my job far more than any other part of it although I am grateful to be a musician for fifty years professionally.

For me to be able to get on a bus and not have to see another airport for three and a half weeks is fantastic. I just go from town to town, sing and play; every night is a new night, a whole new adventure, a new challenge, and to know that people are coming is very inspiring and exciting.

Having said all of that, you have never settled here or even thought about it. Why is that?

Well I was born in Chicago, and when I was eight years old we moved to the Maryland area just outside of Washington DC. I have spent so many years living in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and now twenty-two years in Scottsdale, Arizona. I love visiting the UK; I have spent quite a lot of my life visiting and touring the UK, probably for a few years of my life I have actually lived in England. But I still consider America to be my home despite all of our massive problems. They whole world has got problems, in particular political ones. But as far as a place to live, I have grown up here, I am very comfortable and at home here, despite all of the issues.

I do try to get over to the UK every year whenever time allows. Of course now with the new album which will hopefully be released sometime next year I may well see if I can get a band over there for the first time in a very long time and do a run with the band. But I intend to take things one step at a time.

What was it like for you playing the first gig after Clarence (Clemons) had passed away because for thirty-nine years he had been an integral part of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band?

To be honest with you it was very strange. We had put the tour together very quickly and so we hadn’t had a lot of rehearsal time. On this specific tour our leader Bruce (Springsteen) was debating whether or not we should even play. We spent two and a half months on the road and he went through a hell of a lot of saxophone players and then Clarence’s nephew Jake stepped in and did an enormously great job. But of course Jake and everyone else knows that there was only one Clarence and we took the time to put a show together that we all felt that we could be proud of but still, it was strange to go out there without the big man but I personally feel that he is still with me.

Clarence and I became very close friends and we liked to gab so we would talk every week for hours just about everything and anything. I still miss him, and there is a song on my box set called Miss You C which I wrote about him. But hey man, life happens. I had twenty-seven good years with him standing next to me and I honestly do feel that he is still with me in spirit. Jake is doing a great job covering for his uncle and I don’t know what else to do. I am grateful that Bruce made that momentous decision to carry on without him because I couldn’t have faulted him if he wasn’t comfortable with that.

Now of course hundreds of shows down the road, I take him with me on stage every night, but I am grateful that the band is still playing. Of course there are no plans right now but as a massive fan I certainly do hope that sometime down the road there might be another run of shows.

After being on the road for fifty years, what would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

(Laughter) oh my, if I had to pick just one, I don’t know man. That’s really is a rough question to ask me (laughter). There are probably a couple of dozen highlights and that would take hours with me getting analytical about them. However, just to throw something at you, well, you know what, just recently, my dad lives in Sweden and my mom is Italian, and I was with Bruce playing The River Tour and we found ourselves playing three nights in a stadium in Gothenburg. I had my lovely wife Amy with me, and I was awarded the Swedish American Of The Year Award. I had all of my plaques and medals on my amplifiers at Bruce’s request. He made a little nod towards me during the show and the cameras panned to my bounty there (laughter).

After the show we had a great dinner with the entire band, crew and friends. A lot of my cousins and my family who are based all over Sweden came in on our day off between two stadium shows. For me, working is always a good thing but there is no better work than that plus the reward for being in a band like that. For me to be there with Amy and my son Dylan and his girlfriend Elaina, and to have my family there with me to see me collect the Swedish America Award, well if I had to pick a recent highlight then that would be it.

We can’t mention the highs without mentioning the lows, what has been the worst time of your career?

I have personally faced so many ups and downs which I really don’t want to delve way into but professionally during the early 80s; remember that I hit the road back in 1968, and although we struggled on and off it was under the wings of the likes of Neil Young, who I always thought of as being my mentor. So that really was a fabled time for me. I was so young and I had come from nothing so any step forward was a positive thing. But in the early 80s I got let go by MCA Records after I had recorded the Wonderland album which I personally thought was one of my best records. And all of a sudden I couldn’t get a record deal.

That was a bit daunting, and I always refer to that as being a professional low point. At that time everyone was saying “hey you’re really great, however you have not made us any money so there are no more record deals for you, you’re a dinosaur”. That was back in 1982 and I actually got quite down for a while. Eventually I realised ‘well look man, I can play, I can sing so I have got to sort something out’ but back then there was no Internet so I couldn’t simply get myself a website and put out my music on there. Back in 1982 that simply wasn’t an option. It was funny because all of this was happening during that period when I was quite down about my career and questioning what I was going to do with myself.

One of my friends who I just happened to be chatting to on the phone could sense that I was feeling a little down so he said to me “why don’t you come over for the weekend, bring your guitar and we will go and jam in the nightclubs and have us some fun” and that friend just happened to be Bruce (Springsteen). That was one of many visits that I made over to Bruce’s place and within the next year I went over and we listened to the Born In The USA album which had just been recorded and then a few months after that whilst I was still putting my career back together, I was still without a record company and really not that sure what to do about it, I got the call to go over a jam with the E Street Band which led to the Born In The USA Tour.

Of course, because it is show business, all of a sudden some record companies wanted to give me a record deal and of course being the naive person that I was despite being in the game for fifteen years, I said “well you know I have got all of these demos of songs that I am proud of, tell me when it is okay and I will come into the studio, we will play them, we can listen to them, and you can tell me what you think”. A president of one of the companies classic line was ‘don’t you worry about that stuff, we can take care of all of that later, just sign the deal’ (laughter). I thought that was the most hilarious line that I had ever heard, ‘yes, that music stuff, we will worry about that later, you just sign the deal’ (laughter).

It was funny because all of a sudden arguably one of the greats of all time, Bruce Springsteen said “hey this guy belongs in my band” which suddenly made me a far better bet and my songs suddenly became far more important (laughter). But hey, that’s show business, and thanks to the Internet for the most part since the mid-90s I have parted company with the record industry. I have got a great website which my friends run back in Maryland; Amy helps me with all of the products and is constantly designing stuff, which means that I am a free agent. If I have something that I like I can simply put it on my website and share it.

And that is what I continue to do. I have the new album that I am currently working on and I have got the tour coming up which I am currently putting the show together for as we speak. So despite all of the aches and pains and bumps and bruises, things are looking pretty good.

How did you feel when we lost Tom Petty in October last year?

I have to say that losing Tom was a massive shock, in fact Amy and I are still upset and getting very angry about losing Tom. We went to see him at Red Rocks last year thank god, because they didn’t have a show in Phoenix planned. So we treated ourselves and went up to Red Rocks where we saw a magnificent band at their best. The show was simply amazing and I never realised that it was going to be the last time that I would see them as a group together with Tom. Again, losing someone like Tom makes you even more grateful to just humbly and appreciatively thank god for the inspiration that still exists thanks to music. And because of that inspiration I am putting the show together, I will be heading off to England, I will be getting on a bus and I will be trying to make a great run of it.

I first saw you playing here in the UK back in August 1979.

Was that on The Who tour?

Yes it was.

That was a great tour. We had AC/DC with the late Bon Scott, The Stranglers and I just loved that, travelling around the country opening for The Who. They are one of the great bands who inspired me as a kid.

And you did bring the trampoline with you.

Yes I did, I did bring the trampoline with me and I used it every night too (laughter). Fortunately there were pictures and whenever I see them a part of me thinks ‘did I really do that’ (laughter). Then I look a little closer and think ‘okay, that’s me’. However, nowadays the trampoline is kept locked in a cupboard back home but hey, it had a good run and it was a good part of the show, people got a kick out of it. However, for me it was always a little nerve-wracking and scary, and every night that I landed and didn’t break my neck, I was truly grateful (laughter).

Who is your go to artist or band whenever you have some down time?

It’s a massive hodge-podge of the acts that I have already mentioned. People like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The British Invasion, Motown, Stax, Volt, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles who is one of the artists who I listen to a lot. Sometimes when I am in a funk and I just want to put on something on to pull me out of the funk thing and stop me feeling sorry for myself, I will simply put on a collection of The Rolling Stones.

What was the first record that you bought?

The first record that I bought was, let me see, I think that it was The Lonely Bull (El Toro Solitario) by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

Who did you first see performing live?

Oh man, I think that it was when I was a kid, I didn’t even know what it was that I was seeing. But as far as popular music goes I went to the Steel Pier in Atlantic City with my parents during the summer holidays and we went to see The Supremes. They really were amazing.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

Oh man, well just recently one of what I think are one of the great anthems that speaks to the troubles of our planet right now, which always brings a tear to me eye, and I play if fairly regularly for inspiration, is What About Us by Pink.

On that note Nils, let me just thank you once again for taking the time to speak to me today; it’s been fantastic as usual. You take care and I will see you in Birmingham.

It’s always great talking with you Kevin. I am very excited to be putting the show together as we speak, I can’t wait to come back to the UK and celebrate my fiftieth year out on the road and we intend to do something very special for everyone. You make sure that you come and say hi after the show.

Nils Lofgren chats with Kevin Cooper about celebrating forty eight years on the road, his fondness for The Stables at Milton Keynes, the release of his ten disc box set Face The Music and his forthcoming tour of the UK.

Nils Lofgren is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band since 1984.

In August 2014, a box set, Face The Music, was released on the Fantasy label. The career-spanning retrospective contains nine CD’s and a DVD covering his 45 year career.

Having toured the UK earlier this year, he will be back again in October, and in the blistering heat of his home town, Scottsdale, Arizona, Kevin Cooper caught up with him to have a chat.

Mr Lofgren how are you?

I’m good thank you Kevin, how are you today?

I’m very well thank you. Let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me again. Having spoken to you last November prior to your UK tour I have to ask you how it went.

It went very well thank you Kevin. Well enough to warrant another visit this year.

And how is life treating you today?

It’s pretty good. I have been up quite early with my four dogs; I am just trying to keep them quiet (laughter) I have got them fed and I’ve managed to walk them around the yard.

I understand that things are a little uncomfortable for you at the minute?

That’s right Kevin (laughter). We are having a heat wave here at the moment and it has reached 117 degrees over the past few days (laughter). It is vicious hot so we are going to drive a couple of hours north to a beautiful town called Sedona where it is hot but not this bad. It will be great to get away from this heat for a short while. We will read some books for a few days and try to tune out of the rat race. It is in a beautiful setting of red rocks and red dust so I am looking forward to that.

And how are the rehearsals for your forthcoming tour of the UK going?

It’s going well thanks for asking. I’m doing well at the moment memorising lyrics and trying to remember how to play all of my songs (laughter). I have been looking at Face The Music, my ten-disc box set and all of the titles from the past forty-five years, and I am trying to pick some new songs and some different songs and stay on top of what we did and try to be a little bit better this time around. That is the goal every time that you tour; you just want to be as creative and into it as ever.

Do you enjoy your time spent over here in the UK?

Yes Kevin I do and this time I am intending to bring my wife Amy over with me. I will meet her after the shows at the merchandise table. Amy will be selling the T-shirts and CD’s after the shows and I have to tell you that she has designed the tour t-shirts. We are very excited to be coming back to the UK and we have an even longer run this time. This is a very charming tour that we are doing; it’s kind of grass roots and going back to the basics of how I started, which is learning how to play for people and trying to make a special night of it regardless of what the day brings. The whole of the UK is one place where I have continued to come to now for over forty-three years and it really matters that you get to a little town say on a Tuesday night because if you do a great show then the people will remember that and they will come back to see you.

You speak very fondly of the UK, have you ever considered settling over here?

Not really Kevin although I do love being there and I feel very comfortable over there. Actually before my very first professional experience over there on the Tonight’s The Night Tour with Neil Young I went over to London in the late 60’s. Thanks to Neil Young I became friends with (David) Crosby, (Stephen) Stills and (Graham) Nash and Graham Nash was recording in London so I would go and hang out with him quite a bit. I remember walking home after a late night recording session at Graham Nash’s studio; I was just a teenager and felt like a fish out of water but Graham took me under his wing and always kept the door open for me at his recording sessions.

We were walking back to his flat when somebody familiar walked by. We both noted it but didn’t say anything but then fifty feet later Graham just stopped me and tapped me on the shoulder and said did we just walk past Charlie Watts. We both had a laugh and it was funny because even then it was simply two fans passing by one of their heroes and I will always remember that. What you have to remember Kevin, is that London was a fabled mecca for us American musicians because of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; the British Invasion of the USA together with their American counterparts, Motown and Stax. The entire UK has always been a great place to come and play and we are so excited about being able to come back and play for you.

And once again you are playing The Stables at Milton Keynes on Wednesday 28^th October. Do you enjoy playing there?

Yes Kevin we are and it is always a great place to play. I like the new version of it even better than the old one. But it is always good and there is always a great crowd there whenever we play. So we are slowly preparing for a long trip away from home and I am really excited about it.

The Stables were obviously built by musicians for musicians. Is that noticeable to you when you play there?

The original Stables was always kind of fun and challenging because there was more of the audience to your left and right; a kind of profile that was looking at you which was challenging. Music has always made me bop around and flip around a bit so it was kind of nice when I would spin around to my left and I could just stay there and become part of the crowd or vice versa (laughter). But I will say that the new design is still left and right but now the majority of the audience is in front of you, so there is more of a focus out. Having said all of that it is very intimate, the audience are right on top of you, and it is just a great place to play. The audiences have always been great to us whenever we have played there.

Tell me about the show after the show?

Well Kevin the show after the main show usually takes place at the merchandise table and it is always nice as they keep a bar tender on duty so that the people in-line can grab a drink (laughter). I enjoy meeting the fans and I have some time to do that whilst the crew is loading all of the equipment back onto the tour bus. So many people hang around and say hi to you. That is kind of nice.

You mentioned Face The Music your 10-disc box set. Were you happy with how well it was received?

Well Kevin it is quite a novelty item; it is a massive box set and of course in the age of digital music I think that it is kind of nice to have something hard in your hands. The fans have loved it and we have received some great reviews and I am very proud of it. The record company were fabulous; they did let me hand-pick everything that is on there and they let Amy produce the artwork for the packaging. We had great help from many, many talented people and as I said we are very proud of it. A few nights ago we saw a great Jackson Browne show and he too had given me a nice quote to use; it was nice to have some of my old friends plug the project (laughter). It was difficult asking them to do that for me but with such a big project it was required and it was nice to be able to give Jackson a copy.

The box set to me is a really special thing Kevin especially as I haven’t had a record deal in over twenty years now. I just have my website nilslofgren.com which gives me the freedom to do what I like. It was nice to have a great company who wanted to do a thorough box set, who gave me great ideas but always deferred to us in the end.

Do you manage to see much live music?

We are always going out trying to catch some live music and the other night we saw Macy Gray who was just spectacular; her and her band were amazing.

When you arrive in the UK you will be celebrating forty-eight years out on the road. How does that make you feel?

Old (laughter). What better way to start the celebrations than a long, healthy run in a great place with great audiences; it’s going to be fun. I just want to get up in front of them and sing my songs. That is the beauty of a live show Kevin, I have found more gratitude for it as I have gotten older. Certainly after forty-seven years I no longer like leaving my home or my wife or my dogs and even though Amy will be with me this time, we will have a laugh sometimes about how we are homesick for our dogs and our home even though we are together.

Nevertheless it allows me to focus on the show itself; an even deeper focus and more importantly I have found a new level of gratitude for the experience because forty-eight years is quite a bit of time to now not only get to sing and play for people, but to feel like despite all of my injuries and aches and pains I have a shot at singing and playing as well as I ever did. I certainly can’t do a back flip for you off a trampoline and risk my life anymore, but hopefully the playing and the singing will make up for that.

Am I to take it that you have no plans on slowing down?

Not really Kevin (laughter) although I have slowed down in a sense that when I was a kid in my twenties I had no life but the road, to the studio, to the road. There was nothing in-between. So I am spending more time at home than on the road but we have a good life and I have a lot of dogs to feed so I need to work a little bit (laughter) but now I will just do it part-time. I will go away for a week and then I will come home or I will go away for two weeks and then I will come home for three. Sometimes I will go away for a long weekend and then come home for the rest of the month that kind of thing so I am slowing down in a sense and if I can make it work then I would prefer to spend more time at home than being out on the road because pretty much half of my life has been spent out on the road.

Certainly when I was much younger I was on the road pretty much all of the time, so in that sense there is much more of a balance with this great home that Amy has put together for us, so I am grateful for that. But yes, I plan to perform and sing god willing as long as my health permits; potentially for the rest of my life if that is possible, but certainly with more time at home than I had back in my twenties (laughter). I do love it all and there really is no way to go and play eight shows unless you leave home; you can’t play eight shows in the same town. You might be able to get away with two per year but that’s it.

That’s part of the charm; you get to a town that you haven’t played in for years or one that you have never played in and you take a walk around, find a café, get a take-away coffee and just get the flavour of the place. Then you take the time to remind yourself that there are hundreds of people who are going to get a baby sitter or a dog sitter or whatever they have to do, and go through the hassle of getting out to the venue whatever the weather, with high hopes that I will sing and play well and hopefully they can go home with a little inspiration from the music which will linger in their lives a bit. Or at least that is the plan. It really hones your focus to get back to the hotel and plan the set for that night.

It really does give you a deep and meaningful sense of focus for the rest of the day so that when you walk out that night you are kind of at peace and you can shut your mind off and tune into the energy of the audience and what it does to your musical instincts. If you are prepared enough then it usually works out quite well.

So which do you prefer now, the smaller, intimate venues or the large stadiums?

That’s kind of a tricky question Kevin (laughter). I mean I guess that I do enjoy them both. In the smaller venues the people are on top of you so it is easier to get down into the music and get lost in it. In a stadium everyone is so far away and it is kind of a spectacle and for me I have found that I hear the audience and I feel them but I tend to ignore them visually and hook into the band. Obviously when I am on tour with Neil Young, Ringo Starr or Bruce Springsteen I will watch the singer and I will watch the band and I usually give myself about thirty minutes to get down into the music before I start running around. Whereas in the smaller venues no matter where you look there are forty faces staring back at you (laughter).

I really would hate to pick one over the other Kevin if I am honest. But what I will say is that it is more virtual and easy to get down into the music which is my job, and stay there in the smaller venues.

It is forty years ago that you released your self-titled Nils Lofgren album. Could you ever envisage that you would still be going as strong?

No Kevin I would never have been that greedy (laughter). When I first hit the road I was seventeen and I didn’t know anything about the music business. Even my heroes like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles really didn’t think of it as something that they were going to do for ever and all that I was concerned about was the rent for that month (laughter). I never envisaged doing anything else but I never really thought that it would last for fifty years; I never thought that. The fact that I am coming up on forty-eight years is kind of miraculous. It’s funny that I joke a lot with my friends and complain to my wife Amy about the bureaucracy of being an adult these days is rather maddening (laughter).

I still keep focused and try not to lose sight of the fact that I have the type of job that once I actually walk out there to sing I get to turn my phone off, and for a couple of hours I get to tune into a gift that I have which I didn’t ask for; which is the music. I would never have been so greedy at seventeen to have insisted on being this blessed with a career this long. I will be eternally grateful for it Kevin.

I have to ask you will your Live UK CD be ready for sale on the tour?

Yes Kevin we are determined to have the CD ready. We have literally just finished mixing and mastering it and I have to tell you that it sounds fabulous. There are fifteen tracks and Amy has put a great package together. She found some great photos from the tour back in January and so yes, we plan to have it on sale at the shows.

They always say never believe your own publicity. However when someone like Neil Young says that listening to you sing and play has been an inspiration to him for many years, then surely that has got to make you feel good, hasn’t it?

Of course. One of the crazy things about getting the box set released was that if you are going to release a forty-five year retrospective of your work, then it was important to reach out to people for some brief testimonials and there was really no way that anyone could do that except me. So as uncomfortable as it was I reached out to twenty or so friends and I was very touched at just how happy they all were to contribute. It was a beautiful thing Kevin. Look, some people are sometimes harshly critical of something that I do although they may have gone overboard in my eyes, but if there is any constructive criticism in there then I will take it. I am one of those performers who really likes to be engaged and inspired, and so I include a lot of improvisation in the show so that I can challenge myself especially with the guitar playing, I will take a lot of chances, I will meander around looking for something special.

But at the same time I want the audience to feel that it was a very special night and hope that they get a little inspiration from it. So towards accomplishing that is just very important to me and something that I have worked hard towards all of these years. So to have one of my musical heroes, whether that be Ringo Starr, Neil Young, Sting, Elvis Costello or Bruce Springsteen, all of whom I respect so deeply, be prepared to offer me some kind words, then yes it certainly does mean a lot to me Kevin. It is also very gratifying for me of course.

I understand that a certain Mr Gordon Sumner (Sting) had a laugh at your expense recently?

Yes Kevin, that’s right. Sting was hilarious because he is such a musician and the last time that I went to see him he was learning how to play the melodium (laughter) which is a maddening type of small accordion. Sting knows all about my accordion background, so he asked me if I would like to pick it up and try it and I flatly refused because I think that it is such a diabolical, evil instrument (laughter). When you are playing a note outwards with your bellows, and when the bellows end you have to push them back in and the notes change. The damn notes change so I just said that is evil and I am not going to pick it up (laughter).

You have mentioned Mr Springsteen, did you know that it is forty years ago today that he released his Born To Run album?

Oh wow Kevin, that’s amazing. It’s funny that sometime around that release date I bought a ticket and saw The E Street Band perform at The Bottom Line in New York City. It was such a brilliant show and of course I never imagined that ten years later I would be a part of the band. That was such a beautiful thing and I have stumbled into some great surprises, some of which were not of my own making. I have had a beautiful run musically; I have been blessed with a great family, I have been very blessed with some unusual support, and so I am trying to take care of it as best I can. There is no better way for me to show that than to get to a town in the middle of nowhere and to have a few hundred people waiting for me to sing to them and have me do a good job.

And dare I ask, will you be releasing a new studio album shortly?

Not straight away Kevin but I have just started writing again. I got home from the last E Street Band tour which was a twenty-six month run after which I was quite beat up and had a few injuries, muscle tears and things like that. So I have been doing a bit of therapy and also addressing my health. I’m sixty-four now and it’s kind of maddening that you simply can’t bounce back like you did when you were twenty-two (laughter). Nevertheless I have got a handle on everything. I have begun writing again although it is a very slow process. Lots of times I will give myself permission to just write like an amateur and I will write horrible things, stupid country songs that I wouldn’t play for anybody (laughter).

And then eventually I get some of that out of my system and something good starts happening but I do plan on hopefully having an album written by early next year and begin the recording of it although there is no set time in which to get it out. Hopefully if I have my way I will have a bunch of songs that I really like and I will get a record out sometime later next year.

On that note may I thank you for taking the time to speak to me.

You are very welcome Kevin. Thank you for spreading the word on the box set together with the shows coming up. I am looking forward to seeing everyone over there in the UK once again.

I am really looking forward to seeing you at The Stables.

That sounds great Kevin, and I appreciate it. Good to talk to you and all the best.

TOUR DATES

October

November

Nils Lofgren chats with Kevin Cooper about his love of the UK, being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the E Street Band, the release of his ten cd box set Face The Music, and his solo tour of the UK in January 2015.

Nils Lofgren is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band since 1984, a former member of Crazy Horse and founder and frontman of the band Grin.

Lofgren was inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of the E Street Band in 2014.

Whilst resting at his home in Arizona and preparing for his forthcoming UK tour, he took time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper, and this is what he had to say.

Mr Lofgren. How are you?

Yes Sir, I’m good Kevin, how are you?

I have to tell you that I actually feel a little older than I did this morning because I have been trying to work out when it was that I first saw you playing live. I first saw you supporting The Who at Wembley Stadium way back in 1979 (laughter).

(Laughter) what a great tour that was with The Stranglers, The Who and Bon Scott who was still singing with AC/DC if I remember correctly. That was back in my drinking days and no matter what time of night, I would head off down to the lobby, which is a great thing about being in Europe as you could usually drink in the lobby all hours of the night. It seemed that it didn’t matter whether it was 3am or 5am Bon Scott was always there, in blue bell bottoms and no shirt on; shooting pool while drinking some hard liquor (laughter). I never got to know Bon well but he was always friendly and it was always nice not to be the only guy in the lobby drinking at 4am (laughter).

So how is life treating Nils Lofgren?

Beautifully Kevin. I am here with my lovely dog and my beautiful Jersey wife Amy. We have a beautiful quite place in Arizona. The awful summer heat has gone and we are now into a beautiful five months of mild weather and I am just glad to be home. I got home in May after a twenty six month tour with the E Street Band which was exhilarating and beautiful but of course it was exhausting. You get home feeling a little beat up but now I am getting my strength and my sea legs back. I am starting to memorise lyrics and I’ve been practising for the first tour of my solo work that I have done in a few years now.

You appear to enjoy touring here in the UK. Is that the case?

Yes I do Kevin, I really do. I have had some very historic runs in the UK in the past forty years, starting with Tonight’s The Night way back in 1973. I am so excited to be coming back, and playing my own music. We are hoping to do a great show for everybody.

On the subject of your own music, tell me about your latest project, Face The Music; the ten cd box set which is a retrospective look at your past work?

Well Kevin as you say it is a ten cd box set which covers the best of forty five years of recordings, which includes basement tapes and bonus tracks, together with songs that nobody has ever heard. There is a wealth of unheard music to put into my shows that I have been doing for a number of years.

Staying with the box set for a while, how was it going over your entire career?

It was really wonderful Kevin. I rarely listen to my old recordings, so at first I was thinking that it was going to be more work than fun. But once I got into it and realised that the record company had given me complete freedom to assemble 189 tracks in whatever order that I saw fit, and they also made me the promise that they would go out and get the rights to those tracks, which they did, then it was really a great stroll down memory lane.

To be honest I had forgotten about a lot of the work that I had done. I was always thinking about the next job or the next set of songs, and of course I have been in a lot of great bands which I love the most. So it was a really powerful challenge. Also my job was figuratively, never wanting to get off the couch and skip a track (laughter). There are a lot of good tracks that I left off but I just wanted to be able to listen to everything in a new order, and have it still mean something emotionally to me and I was able to do that. So thanks go out to Fantasy Records who went out and got the rights to every track that I picked.

When you were listening to all of the tracks, did there ever come a point where you thought ‘I could have done that better’?

(Laughter) yes Kevin I did, but I accepted a long time ago now that it would be a natural reaction to have. First of all it was like, well it’s now forty five years later and I would hope that I am singing and playing a little better (laughter). Also I would hope that I had a little more knowledge and wisdom to apply. But you know what; something that I very soon realised was that there was real charm and power to a bunch of 19 year olds busting our asses working together on a farm in the dead of winter in Warrington, Virginia, and then rehearsing at 3am in front of a wood fire in the ice house out the back. You are living with your crew; you go and play constantly everywhere, and when you have a guy like David Briggs who produced Grin, to lead us and teach us, so yes I still think that when I sing like I did in Grin that I must be singing better now (laughter).

But there was a charm to that hard work and inspiration and here we were; young kids with a record deal. Also, we grew up in the 60’s so I saw Jimi Hendrix a lot. I saw The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, and I saw some very powerful performers like, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown. I saw all of the British Invasion; Jeff Beck and The Truth, and in truth I followed that band all over the East Coast of America. So in answer to your question Kevin, I look back and think that I will get to sing it better when I am performing in the UK in January (laughter). I have given up on wishing that I could have sung things differently forty five years ago. I was singing well enough then to get a recording deal and make a record of some powerful songs which we did together, and in honesty there is a charm to that and a power to that, that I wouldn’t want to change.

Is there anything that you have had to leave off which made you wish that you could just squeeze one last track into the set?

Yes Kevin, there were probably twenty or so of those (laughter) but at some point I had to say no as ten discs was the limit (laughter). I did want to have a DVD of some unusual things for the people to see and hear so we filled it up, complete with bonus tracks, and also I wanted to be chronological. One regret would have been having to leave off my version of the Carole King song Going Back, but I didn’t want to put it on a disc that would have represented my work two decades later. So we just filled it up but I will get to sing the ones that I left off at my live shows.

You have mentioned some fantastic artists there, who has inspired you?

When I first started out in the business Kevin I was a classical accordionist having studied from the age of 5 years old until I was 15. God bless my mom and dad for paying for accordion lessons for me for ten years. But then I fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll through The Beatles and then The Rolling Stones. And that then opened the flood gates for The British Invasion, Stax/Volt, Motown, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and everything that I discovered I discovered it through The Beatles and The Stones. I picked up the guitar as a hobby when I was 15 years old having no intention of ever being a guitar player. In Middle-America no one ever thought that you could do what The Beatles or Jimi Hendrix did for a living.

Then when I was 16, I saw The Who performing in Washington DC and after their gig had finished I crossed over town to see The Jim Hendrix Experience play late at night and I saw Pete Townshend in the audience. It was that night that I was possessed with the idea that instead of playing the blues and rock guitar as just a beautiful hobby, I got the idea that night that I wanted to try to be a rock musician.   And sure enough, one year later at 17 years old I hit the road with my band Grin and that was forty six years ago this September.

Talking of being out on the road, you are touring the UK in January 2015. Are you looking forward to being back over here again?

Oh yes, it’s been a three year break as we usually come over every year, and it’s also a place that my wife loves so much so she will be coming with me. The beauty of touring the UK Kevin, is that once we land we don’t have to see another airport again for almost four weeks. We have a great bus with a great crew, to take us all over the country. We have a really great team who I have been working with for fifteen years now. It’s just a great run over there. I can get myself settled in a room in the venue and start planning a set-list, knowing that there are a few hundred people coming to the show who are all expecting something special. I can just prepare and then give it to them. That is my favourite thing to do; perform live. The UK is like a second home for me and I always feel very comfortable when I’m over there.

I hear that you don’t particularly like the process of recording records?

That’s right Kevin, I simply don’t have a natural patience for making records (laughter) so that is a bit of work for me. Even if it is a great song I don’t really want to play it for three hours (laughter). So making records requires a bit of elbow grease and effort, whereas playing live is where I feel most at home. I really relish being on a stage in front of an audience. You never stop and start and you can also take chances. There is also room for some rough edges just as long as you are down in it emotionally and looking for something special, then people get it. They stay with you and keep you in the moment. It really is a beautiful thing.

Do you ever get the chance to see any of the country whilst you are over here?

Not a lot. When you are doing sixteen shows in nineteen days you don’t really get the chance to see much. Usually what I do is wait until the crew are all in the venue and then I like to go for a walk around the streets of the town. I will try to find a coffee to take away (laughter) and just try to get the feel for where I am at. I’ve being doing this now for over forty years and I will continue doing it. I guess that I will have to bundle up a bit in January, but I will have my wife with me to keep me warm. It’s really like a kind of a home coming for us because Amy and I have had many, many great adventures in the UK. We have had some romantic times touring the UK on our bus and we are both very excited to get back over there and to have another run there.

I have to ask, has the trampoline finally been put to rest?

Yes it has Kevin (laughter). Six years ago now to my horror, between the trampoline and jumping off PA stacks and playing basketball of all things, for three hours a day five days a week, in terrible city courts made of cement; I destroyed all of the cartilage in my hips. Both hips were bone on bone for many years and I was in agony. So six years ago I had both hips replaced and I had a great surgeon, Dr. Paul Pellicci, in New York City and he replaced both of my hips at the same time (laughter). It was kind of horrific but he did a great job. He had assured me that if I kept doing the back flips on the trampoline and playing basketball, I would be crippled within one year. So I have put the trampoline into the closet and that is where it will remain.

So do you now set of the alarms at the airports?

Every time Kevin, every time (laughter). So now I have to just sit there and get fondled, and patted down and make sure that I allow an extra fifteen minutes every time that I fly (laughter). It’s a small price to pay to be out of pain and hopping around again.

I can’t speak to you without mentioning the E Street Band.

Of course, I am very proud to be a thirty year member and they have just put us into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame which was both beautiful and bittersweet. I have always thought that they should have figured it out before we buried Clarence (Clemons) and Danny (Federici). Shame on them. Nevertheless, Amy is from Jersey and I met her at The Stone Pony. She is a huge fan of the E Street Band as am I, so it was great to go to the induction in New York and then Brooklyn and have a few days with dear friends, and the band and the crew who were there. It was a beautiful show, and one of our heroes, Peter Gabriel was also inducted. The women that night did a great tribute to Linda Ronstadt which was probably the greatest performance of the night.

But then to get up on stage with Bruce (Springsteen) and the band to play was beautiful and of course we are quite honoured at the award. And of course in classic bureaucratic rock and roll style, on the flight home my wife pointed out to me that the paint had started chipping off my statue (laughter). The madness and the bureaucracy that is in every business including rock and roll (laughter). However at the end of the day the band belong in there and the induction is long overdue especially for my bandmates as they took it a lot harder than me because I have only been there for thirty years (laughter). However it’s a nice honour and I was glad to share it with my wife and friends.

Is it as much fun being in the band as it looks from offstage?

Oh yes, I learned at 18 years old after I had done After The Gold Rush with Neil Young that it is fun to wake up and not have to be the boss every day. It’s nice to be on a team; to be in a great band, and to have someone else be the leader. When you are the lead guy you sing all of the songs and you play all of the solos which is fine and I enjoy that. But you don’t really get to sing harmonies with great singers and you don’t really get to play a lot of rhythm guitar or secondary instruments. I love doing that and it has been a very healthy part of my journey with Neil Young, the Ringo Starr Band, and the E Street Band of course, so I long learned that I really enjoy being in a great group and not being the leader every day of my life.

But now here I am getting back to my own shows. I’ve had a three year break from it so I am very excited and inspired about it. Having said that, I am not really musically rusty because I have had twenty six months on the road, and you get very challenged as a musician when you are in the E Street Band (laughter). For me it is all part of a journey that has served myself very well; going off and being in some really great bands and then coming back to my solo work.

So after the tour together with Face The Music, the box set which is being received very well, what next for Nils Lofgren?

Well Kevin, I am giving myself permission at the moment to concentrate on the touring itself (laughter). My plan is that when I get back home in January after a successful run in the UK, I will start writing and see what comes out. And I hope to get another studio album recorded next year. I hope that if this tour goes well that I will be able to get out and play more and that you will have me back in the UK in the fall next year. I just want to get back to writing and recording another album. I have no idea what it will be but that is my next big recording project. One of the best ways to kick off that next chapter is to do a series of great shows because that is where I am most inspired by the audience.

On that note may I just say thank you for taking the time to speak to me.

You too Kevin and thank you for letting people know what I am up to. All the best Kevin, it was good speaking to you, thank you.