Heart's Nancy Wilson drafts in rock royalty for debut solo album
'You and Me' is set for release in early 2021
Last updated 23rd Nov 2020
Heart’s Nancy Wilson has announced details of her debut solo album ‘You and Me’ featuring big name collaborations with former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Having previously released the live album ‘Live from McCabe's Guitar Shop’ shortly before the turn of the millennium, Nancy Wilson is now preparing to unleash her inaugural solo studio effort ‘You and Me’ in early 2021.
The guitarist’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’, which premiered last month, will feature on the record alongside versions of Pearl Jam’s ‘Daughter’ and Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’ (featuring Sammy Hagar), plus seven original Nancy Wilson tracks.
Nancy recently spoke to the Meltdown on US radio station 101WRIF where she revealed information about the project including the trio of big-name guests.
She said (via Blabbermouth): "(The album) title is 'You And Me'. That's a song on the album, called 'You And Me'. And it just turned out really great. It's a song my long-time collaborator friend Sue Ennis and I wrote together.
“We kind of blended two different songs that we had written about our moms, actually, and we made a new song out of it called 'You And Me'. And it's just so simple, I just thought, 'Okay, well, that's pretty easy to remember.'"
Nancy continued: “I've got one song that I wrote with Duff McKagan and Taylor Hawkins, They had a jam that they shared with me, and I finished it. And it's called 'Party At The Angel Ballroom'.
“I covered 'The Boxer', which I did with Heart last year, with Sammy Hagar guesting on that. He's a buddy. He sounds really good on that. I have this other big rocker. I said, 'Do you wanna sing on this big rocker?' And he's, like, 'It's kind of expected. It would be a little less interesting.' I said, 'Okay. What about 'The Boxer'?' And he's, like, 'I love that song. I've loved that song forever.'"
Reflecting on recording the album, Nancy continued: “It's fun for me to sort of take hold of the first studio solo album and do all the singing. Not that I consider myself a premier ballerina kind of a singer like Ann (Wilson - Nancy’s sister and Heart band mate), but it's really fun. I love it — I love trying to be the singer and doing the harmonies and playing all the parts, pretty much.
“My band guys, from Heart mainly, are passing around files, and we're just taking notes and responding to the new parts that they put on. And it's coming together really great."
Nancy’s older sister, Ann Wilson, has released two solo studio albums – 2007’s ‘Hope & Glory’ and 2018’s ‘Immortal’, which featured a collection of covers by artists – many of whom were Ann’s personal friends - who had recently passed away.
Among the 10 tracks are Audioslave’s ‘I Am The Highway’ in tribute to the late-great Chris Cornell, The Eagles’ ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ in honour of Glenn Frey, David Bowie’s ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’, Tom Petty’s ‘Luna’ and Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’.