Willie Nile – HuffPost 6.17.13

Mike Ragogna: My traditional question: What advice do you have for new artists?

Willie Nile: It’s pretty simple. I’d say follow your instincts, follow your heart, and do what’s meaningful to you. If you have fun with it, that’s one thing. The business has changed, and with the internet there are a lot more doors open. I would say follow your heart, have fun with it, follow your instincts…sing your song from as real a place in your soul and heart as you can find, sing with everything you’ve got. I also would say that if you have fun with it, it’s likely other people might have fun with it as well. So follow your heart and have fun with it.

MR: What advice would you tell Willie Nile when your self-titled, debut album came out?

WN: [laughs] I would say it’s going to take a lot longer than you’d think, but stay with it because you’re going to get there. I’m getting there and it feels really, really good. It took a long time. It’s thirty-three years ago that the record came out, and I’ve been writing all the time. I’ll always write, it’s what I do. I’m a songwriter, I’m a poet. My advice to myself in 1980 would be follow your heart, follow your instincts, never give up, hang in there and you’ll get there. And it’s happened.