Teresa Spencer
By Teresa Spencer
In a world where music icons are too often frozen in amber, Nancy Wilson remains in motion writing, playing, evolving. And when you speak with her, it’s clear the Hall of Famer hasn’t just survived rock and roll. She’s still breathing fire into it.
At a recent interview, I mentioned to a group of Gen Z journalists, all under 30, that I’d had just spoken with a male member of a major rock band from the 70’s…Blank stares. I then dropped Nancy Wilson’s name as I was to speak with her that day and they lit up like Christmas morning. Nancy Wilson? Suddenly, we were all on the same page. Because Nancy, co-founder of Heart and six-string legend, still matters. And not just to the classic rock crowd, but to a new generation discovering the sheer power of a woman with a guitar and something to say.
“I was about eight or nine when I picked up my first guitar,” Wilson tells me. “I’d already played some piano and ukulele. We were a very musical family. Lots of campfire songs and harmony singing.” Then came the Beatles. “When they hit, it was all over. I went from ukulele to guitar overnight. I couldn’t put it down.”
That fire’s never faded. Her fingers are still calloused, her spirit still fierce. “By the time I was 12,” she laughs, “I knew I could never be a hand model.” Guitar had become a permanent extension of her.
She’s not just writing or performing, she’s releasing. In 2021 she released her first solo album called You and Me. “We’re reissuing the album on vinyl soon, with a new bonus track I just did with Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie,” she says. The song’s called A Million Goodbyes and it’s as dreamy and powerful as the title suggests. “I’ve been selling it on CD at our merch booth during this tour too.”
And if she’s not rocking a stage, she’s scoring your favorite films. Jerry Maguire. Almost Famous. Those emotional undercurrents in the soundtrack? That’s Nancy, painting with chords instead of colors. “It’s another part of where I can go when I’m not on a rock tour,” she explains. “Music is kind of my life, and I just love doing it every which way I can.”
She’s also turning her energy toward artist development. Nancy is passionate about mentoring the next generation of singer-songwriters. She owns Roadhouse Management which manages artists like Madisenxoxo and rising talent DeLoyd Elze. Through her management company, she’s helping them find the exposure they deserve. “It’s important to give back,” she says. “There’s so much talent out there that just needs someone to believe in them.”
Now, if you think she’s mellowed with time, think again. Wilson tells me about seeing babies in the crowd at her shows. Yes, babies with headphones. “My granddaughter just came to her first rock show. She’s almost two. She was rocking out. I saw her from the stage and she was trying to run toward me.” DNA doesn’t lie. “She already knows a couple things on the ukulele,” Nancy added. Rock runs in the blood.
And then there are the fans, like the guy who followed the entire Heart tour convoy in his own empty semi-truck. “He’d talk with our tour crew over the CB radio,” Nancy remembers. “One time after a show, he’s screaming ‘Annie! Annie!’ and my sister waved and said ‘Thanks, man.’ And he goes, ‘That’s a big 10-4, Annie!’ Luckily, he wasn’t scary, he just an enthusiastic, great fan.”
Nancy Wilson broke ground in a man’s world, not just as a woman who played lead guitar, but as one who owned it. She paved the way for artists like Lita Ford, Joan Jett, and later, St. Vincent and Nita Strauss. In fact, she’s one of the very few women to appear on lists like Rolling Stone’s “Greatest Guitarists.” Talking about the evolution of women in music, Nancy gets reflective. “Growing up, most of my influences were male. There just weren’t that many women in rock yet. For someone like Cheryl Crow’s generation, at least they had us and Fleetwood Mac out there. Now, finally, it’s becoming more balanced.
Keeping that rocker energy going isn’t easy but Nancy’s got a system. “Yoga, strength training, healthy eating, cooking, hiking, being out in nature, hanging out with my dog and my granddaughter that’s what keeps me going. I can’t party like a rock star anymore,” she added. And I said “Even though you are one.”
Because in the end, Nancy Wilson isn’t just a rock star. She’s a living, breathing time machine. A link between the golden era of vinyl and the future of fierce, female-led sound.
And she’s not done yet. Catch “Heart” at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on June 24th! For Info/Tix https://www.theamp.com/events/detail/heart
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