Nils Lofgren Releases New Album 'Mountains' Feat. Neil Young, Ringo Starr, David Crosby & More
Concurrent with the release of Mountains, Nils is launching his Rockality video series today.
By: Michael Major Jul. 21, 2023
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame E Street Band member, Crazy Horse member and solo artist Nils Lofgren released his new album Mountains.
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. The album also contains stunning artwork by renowned Arizona artist Ed Mell.
“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.”
Mountains has been praised by Stereogum, SPIN, American Songwriter, BrooklynVegan, Ultimate Classic Rock, Exclaim!, and many more. Recently, Lofgren spoke with writer Bob Mehr for an extensive feature interview in MOJO that is on newsstands now. PopMatters reviewed the album and proclaimed, “Nils Lofgren is one of the finest ever to grace recorded music, and with each album, he delivers something we didn’t know we needed but now somehow can’t live without.”
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), son Dylan and their beautiful dogs.
“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 is launching his Rockality video series today. 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 today.
Photo Credit: Rob DeMartin
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