Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

N

ick Lowe is at an age when some

blokes might be tempted to

get out the pipe and slippers

and muse reflectively over their past.

But despite having much to muse on and

nothing to prove, with exemplary back

catalogues as producer and artist, this

70-year-old musical chameleon keeps

looking forward. He’s constantly setting

new challenges, taking on new tours, even

playing at Glastonbury 2019 – yet he still

maintains he’s lazy. Very much the self-

made music man, his work encompasses

rock’n’roll, R&B, skiffle, pub rock, punk rock

and even Americana and country, and his

influence is felt across the decades.

As a boy, Nick Lowe grew up in far-flung

corners of Europe where his RAF dad

was stationed, listening to exciting new

rock’n’roll sounds on the wireless in the

1950s, learning ukulele and cocking an ear

to his mum’s and sister’s record collections.

“My older sister used to bring home a lot of

good rock’n’roll records, like Buddy Holly

[who Lowe has covered] and Eddie Cochran.

I was a big fan of him and Gene Vincent. Still

am, actually. Although she mysteriously liked

Pat Boone too, I don’t know why; even at that

age I knew that was kind of duff!”

Lowe now thinks that his mother had

even more of an influence on him. “Her

record collection was, of course, what a lot

of middle class families in the 50s had. A

lot of show music, music from films, South

Pacific, My Fair Lady, that kind of thing.

I loved all that stuff and she had a lot of good

singers like Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Sinatra

of course, and Nat King Cole. But she also

had rather bizarrely – I don’t know where

she got them from – she had these two 10"

Tennessee Ernie Ford records. And I just

loved these things. I played and played and

played them.”

IT WAS ONLY when he got older that

he realised that the music that he’d heard

his folks playing was pretty good. “I went

through a period of denial, when I wouldn’t

admit that I liked I’ve Grown Accustomed To

Her Face – which is fantastic.” His dad had

some jazz LPs, but young Nick didn’t really

go for that. “It was too difficult. I listen to a

lot more jazz nowadays and really enjoy it.

I didn’t get it when I was a kid.”

Meanwhile Lowe was entranced by the

advent of the skiffle craze, and says that

Lonnie Donegan’s records were the

During his long career Nick Lowe has experimented with many

musical styles and 2019 finds him collaborating with rock’n’roll

instrumentalists Los Straitjackets, as Vintage Rock discovers

WORDS BY HELEN M JEROME

THE

LOWE

ROAD

“I WENT THROUGH A

PERIOD OF DENIAL,

WHEN I WOULDN’T

ADMIT THAT I LIKED I’VE

GROWN ACCUSTOMED

TO HER FACE”

Nick Lowe