NIGEL STONIER — Wolf Notes

Nigel Stonier has signed a new deal with APM Records and is set to release his eighth album Wolf Notes, his first album of new music for six years.

And it’s been worth the wait, because this album is vivid, deep-coloured, glowing, radiant, vibrant, strong, intense, rich, warm, a flaming-bright star.

It’s named after a musical anomaly. “A wolf note arises with stringed instruments when the player hits a note that is close to a resonant frequency of the instrument's body. What comes out is a howl and it's known as a wolf note. But without the capacity for the occasional wolf note the instrument wouldn't have its magical tone in the first place. I like this and what it says to me,” says Nigel.

While perhaps known primarily as a producer/collaborator - he has worked closely in those capacities with artists including The Waterboys, Clare Teal, Fairport Convention, Thea Gilmore and Martha Wainwright - Nigel has also received much acclaim for his solo albums, with Built For Storms hitting the iTunes top 10, and Love And Work and Navigate, his last two albums, both receiving four-star reviews in the national press.

Nigel is joined on Wolf Notes by a combination of long-term collaborators and new musical friends. “I'm lucky to know some great people that play on the album. Rob Harris from Jamiroquai played some killer guitar - he plays all the lead stuff on That's Why God Made Tribute Bands. Rising indie star Little Sparrow aka Katie Ware came in and did some beautiful harmonies. Rod Clements from Lindisfarne played slide guitar and CJ Hillman, the AMA award-winning steel player, also did some stellar stuff. I've been writing some songs with Steve Wickham from The Waterboys and one of those - a track called Soul - is on the album,” says Nigel.

In the six years since the release of his last album Navigate, Nigel Stonier has been busy. Two of his songs have featured in major movie soundtracks - respectively the award-winning Bait from 2019 and Olivia Colman's comedy drama Joyride from 2022. In 2020, Nigel collaborated with Mark Knopfler, Richard Thompson and other musicians on a remake of Stand By Me which raised money for musicians affected by the pandemic. Sam Smith covered Nigel's song Messin' With Fire for the 2024 BBC Proms. And Nigel has produced new albums for acts ranging from Dave Hemingway (The Beautiful South) and his new band Sunbirds, to the internationally acclaimed blues artist Martin Harley, as well as records for new emerging artists including jazz/pop chanteuse Megan Lee and Americana newbies The Far North, each of whom received their first national airplay.

Getting back to the new album, some specific influences play their part too. “The musical influences that I drew on for the Wolf Notes album? I was listening to Bill Fay's Countless Branches and Florist's Emily Alone. I loved the directness in the writing and the absence of adornment in the sound. Then Gordon Lightfoot released Solo, which I loved. I was also revisiting stuff like Bill Withers' Still Bill and the first Jackson C. Frank album - records and songs that were full of space. Sometimes it's about making the silence count.”

How did Wolf Notes begin and develop? “It was March 2020. I had just bought a new apartment, and lockdown arrived. I landed in this new place on March 19th. I had a bed, a fridge, broadband, an acoustic guitar and little else for weeks on end. I had time on my hands. I was suddenly surrounded by space, both external and internal. There was no option of going to the studio - or to get anywhere, for that matter - but there was time to write as well as to play, and time to review songs I'd not finished. So I started writing. The core body of songs that make up Wolf Notes just appeared. I found myself taking things back to basics. It wasn't a conscious move; I just realised I was writing songs with simpler chord structures and lyrics than sometimes in the past. There was a sense of everything being pared back,” says Nigel.

“I’ve been doing this since I was seventeen - playing music as your living is a privilege, and I guess that just keeping the show on the road all these years is probably what I'm most proud of. As for career highlights, there are so many that we'd need some time! I've worked with incredible, gifted and life-changing people and I've got gratitude towards every single one of them. But I'm also thinking about the next phase and people I'm waiting to work with. I'm looking forward, and I really do consider myself incredibly lucky,” adds Nigel.

Wolf Notes Album Credits

1. Don't Lose Songs
2. The New Alright
3. That’s Why God Made Tribute Bands
4. That’s Where You'll Be
5. You Still Have Faith In Me
6. Wolf Notes
7. Get Through 
8. A Train Called Inspiration
9. Soul
10. Mediant (Alright)
11. Path Of Green
12. I Believe

All songs written by Nigel Stonier except 9 by Nigel Stonier & Steve Wickham; 12 by Paul Cookson & Nigel Stonier. Songs © First Original Music.

• Album produced by Seadna McPhail and Nigel Stonier
• Album recorded and mixed by Seadna McPhail at Airtight, Manchester

MUSICIANS 

• Paul Beavis - drums (2 3 5 7 & 8)
• Egan Stonier - violin (1, 6, 7, 11) viola (6)
• Rod Clements - lead guitar (2) dobro (9)
• C J Hillman - guitar (4) pedal steel (6)
• Asher Stonier - drums (1) percussion (6)
• Ben Cashell - cello (6 & 7)
• Rob Harris - lead guitar (3 & 10)
• Steve Van Niekirk - guitar (1 & 8)
• Natalie Grace Kelsey - whistle & flute (1)
• Ian Thompson - upright bass - (2)

BACKING SINGERS

• Natalie Grace Kelsey - (1 & 5)
• Katie Ware (6)
• Megan Lee (9)
• Tiki Black (10)

CHORUS (1 & 3) Natalie Grace Kelsey, Steve Van Neikirk, Deb Rudge, Egan Stonier, Asher Stonier.

Nigel Stonier plays acoustic and electric guitars, slide, harmonica, bass, piano, organ, mellotron, banjo, ukulele, percussion and drums. Seadna McPhail does everything else.

© ℗ Nigel Stonier 2025 Under exclusive license to APM Records.

Nigel Stonier Album Discography

• Golden Coins For The Holy Kid (1995)
• English Ghosts (2000)
• Brimstone & Blue (2002)
• Notes From Overground (2010)
• Built For Storms (2014)
• Love And Work (2017)
• Navigate (2019)
• Wolf Notes (2025) NEW

Nigel Stonier Release Details

• New single That's Why God Made Tribute Bands due 7th March 2025
• New album Wolf Notes due 2nd May 2025
• Label: APM Records
• Album catalogue number APMR024
• Album formats: Digital & CD

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