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Reports from HPR's Dave Lawrence

Heart's Nancy Wilson - Part One - Off The Road with Dave Lawrence - January 2021

Browse and hear the complete Off the Road series at hawaiipublicradio.org/offtheroad.

Today HPR All Things Considered Host Dave Lawrence welcomes back Nancy Wilson of Heart. The talented guitarist, vocalist and songwriter returns to the show ahead of being honored next week at the She Rocks Awards. Nancy joined us from her home in northern California.

Nancy Wilson, along with her sister and lead singer Ann, broke through into the often male-dominated world of rock music to lead Heart to international success, releasing their debut album in 1975. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

Friday January 22nd Nancy will be honored at the 9th Annual She Rocks Awards in what will be an online ceremony due to the pandemic, complete with a virtual red carpet introduction and Zoom VIP after-show party. It’ll stream live at parade.com/sherocks and believeinmusic.tv.

Spending over an hour sharing stories and her good energy, Nancy explained how the pandemic had heavily impacted her life, from an experience just as the crisis began aboard a cruise ship with her side-project Roadcase Royale, to the recording of her upcoming debut solo album, with all the musicians remotely contributing their parts, including special guests Sammy Hagar, Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses. Below we've included one of the songs from the album, a cover of Bruce Springsteen's The Rising. She also shared how one track is a tribute to Eddie Van Halen, and shared some fun stories relating to when Heart toured with Van Halen.

She also talked about the She Rocks Awards line-up of honorees and how she’ll be participating in their event remotely, even filming some material in advance at her home. Nancy shared personal experiences of meeting some of her ‘super fans’, too, though perhaps the highlight of the conversation was hearing stories of Nancy’s times getting close to her own musical heroes, including Paul McCartney.

Tomorrow we'll hear the conclusion of our feature and post the complete hour+ interview.

Off The Road is a series of interviews with musicians remotely sharing how they’ve been touched by the pandemic and other crises, including hours of conversation and many exclusive musical performances, speaking to artists across the musical spectrum.

Browse and hear the complete Off the Road series at hawaiipublicradio.org/offtheroad.

MORE:

Nancy's cover of Bruce Springsteen's The Rising:

See Nancy live with Heart, recorded in 2019:

Check out Nancy in her other project, Roadcase Royale:

Hear two classic interviews featuring Nancy: one from 2004 with just Nancy and another from 2010 with both Ann and Nancy Wilson.

Browse and hear the complete Off the Road series at hawaiipublicradio.org/offtheroad.

Dave Lawrence is the local host of All Things Considered, Road Stories (formerly Off the Road) and Stargazer.
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