''Places I Have Never Been'' is an album by the American musician

Willie Nile Willie Nile (born Robert Noonan; June 7, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1980, Nile released his self-titled debut album. His early career was interrupted by various problems, but he eventually returned to recording and performing i ...

, released in 1991. It was Nile's first album in 10 years, as legal and personal issues prevented him from putting out music. Nile supported the album with a North American tour.

Production

The album was produced by

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (December 24, 1951 – February 28, 2010) was an American musician and bassist for the music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and a member of the ''Saturday Night Live'' house band. Life and career Wolk was born and raised in Y ...

and Stewart Lerman; Nile chose them after

Rick Chertoff Richard E. Chertoff (born March 29, 1950 in New York, NY) is an American five-time Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize ...

became unavailable. It was Nile's intention to write an optimistic record. Richard Thompson and

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...

were among the guitar players who contributed to the album.

Suzzy Roche Suzzy Roche ( ; born September 29, 1956) is an American singer and actress best known for her work with the vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She is the aut ...

, Terre Roche, and

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

sang on "That's Enough for Me". Members of

the Hooters The Hooters are an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band combines elements of rock, reggae, ska, and folk music to create its sound. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980 ...

also contributed to ''Places I Have Never Been''.

Critical reception

The ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

'' wrote that "the nasal vocals, chiming guitars and anthemic scope of the material offer a hint of Tom Petty, a little Bruce Springsteen and a whole lot of Byrds." ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' opined that "Nile's lyrics, as they were on his first two records, are still his strong suit." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' deemed the album "a half-dozen sharp but not overly slick grabbers" and "a modest pleasure—even if it too is the sort of album that includes a reprise of its opening song." The ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'' called it "pretty nifty ... adult rock and roll." The ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'' considered it to be "a jangly and surprisingly upbeat collection of folk-rock."

Track listing

Personnel

;Musicians *

– lead & background

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, electric, 12 string, & acoustic guitars, keyboard and piano * Stewart Lerman - electric & acoustic guitars, 6 & 12 string guitars, maracas *

T-Bone Wolk Tom "T-Bone" Wolk (December 24, 1951 – February 28, 2010) was an American musician and bassist for the music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and a member of the ''Saturday Night Live'' house band. Life and career Wolk was born and raised in Yon ...

- bass, acoustic guitar, keyboard, piano, percussion *

Mickey Curry Michael Timothy Curry (born June 10, 1956) is an American musician. He has collaborated with singer-songwriter Bryan Adams since the early 1980s, but has also worked with Hall & Oates, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elvis Costell ...

- drums, tambourine, percussion, background vocals *Peter Wood - keyboard, piano *

Larry Campbell Larry W. Campbell (born 28 February 1948) is a Canadian politician that served as the 37th mayor of Vancouver, Canada from 2002 until 2005 and since 2005 has been a member of the Senate of Canada. Before he was mayor, Campbell worked for th ...

- fiddle *

- guitar, 12 string guitar, background vocals *Mark Johnson - background vocals * James Cobb - background vocals *

Robbie McIntosh Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is well known as a session guitarist and member of The Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney joining his band fu ...

- electric guitar *William Wittmann - acoustic guitar, background vocals, keyboard *

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul Wickens (born 27 March 1956) is an English musician, composer, and record producer, professionally known as Wix. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon ...

- Hammond organ * Richard Thompson - lead electric guitar, background vocals *

Eric Bazilian Eric M. Bazilian (born July 21, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Bazilian is a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. He wrote " One of Us", a song first recorded by Joan Osborne in 1 ...

- mandolin, background vocals *

Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. Early life Hyman st ...

- accordion *Richard Kennedy - lead acoustic guitar *Luke Noonan - piano, background vocals * Terre Roche - background vocals *

- background vocals *

- background vocals *Bobby Noonan - background vocals *Mary Noonan - background vocals *JoJo Noonan - background vocals *Jennifer Krause - background vocals *Anthony Acquilato - background vocals *Kelly Moore - background vocals *Mel Papaterpos - background vocals ;Production and additional personnel * Produced by

and Stewart Lerman *

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

*Mixing and additional recording Produced by William Wittmann *Recorded and mixed by John Agnello *Recorded at 321 Studios, The Hit Factory, Messina Music (New York City), Home Base Studios, Studio 4 (Philadelphia) *Mixed at Messina Music *Additional engineering: Tim Leitner, Ted Trewhella *Assistant engineers: Ted Trewhella, Tom Cadley, Lance Neal, Joe Bartoldus,

Phil Nicolo The Butcher Bros. is an American music production team made up of brothers Phil and Joe Nicolo, originally based out of Philadelphia in the mid-to-late '80s. Together and individually, the brothers have produced albums for a wide variety of ban ...

*Mastered by

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

at Sterling Sound (New York City) *

Art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

by Tony Sellari * Cover photography by Lou Salvatori

References

{{Authority control Willie Nile albums 1991 albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Stewart Lerman