Columbus native Nick Niespodziani is shown during a past concert with Yacht Rock Revue.
Photo provided
Columbus native Nick Niespodziani and the Yacht Rock Revue ’70s-oriented band have been in Rolling Stone magazine twice, on national, sellout concert excursions and are currently the subject of a national PBS television special.
But the lead singer’s never even been … well, an actual road warrior in the strictest sense.
“I’ve told some people that I might be one of more successful pop-rock musicians in this country who’s never spent a single night on a tour bus,” he said with a laugh.
The Atlanta resident has flown to most of his gigs, since they are spaced out well enough.
But that is changing soon.
The rock groups Train and REO Speedwagon invited Yacht Rock Revue on their two-month summer tour, and Niespodziani, longtime boyhood friend Peter Olson and the band couldn’t resist the adventure — and the new audiences.
“That kind of opportunity has never before come calling … for a (mostly cover) band like ours,” Niespodziani said. “We felt like we had to take it.”
Before that 45-minute, concert-opener role begins in July, the ensemble will headline a two-hour show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Brown County Music Center in Nashville. At the performance will be Niespodziani’s parents, childhood friends, former rock mates, classmates, you name it.
And no wonder. All those people and more waited three years to see the group at the annual Our Hospice of South Central Indiana fundraising concert in Columbus. But the in-person version was cancelled by COVID twice and rain once.
So this night amid fans known as Anchorheads will serve as Niespodziani and Olson’s happy homecoming — amid a coming release of an original, independent album “Escape Artists,” to be released as four EPs.
“It’s ridiculously ambitious,” Niespodziani said of the effort, adding that it includes “super-legit yacht rock,” acoustic, electro-pop and more. “But somehow all those styles make incredible sense together.”
He said that, come Saturday, the set list probably will look a lot like the New York City PBS show soundtrack titled “Between the Moon and New York City” streaming online now, with yacht rock classics such as Kenny Loggins’ “Heart to Heart,” Toto’s “Africa,” and Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.” Those also were part of a medley the group performed at halftime of a recent NBA Atlanta Hawks game.
No, he never really saw fame coming for doing dead-on ’70s covers — even after such major artists of the period such as John Oates and Loggins praised them for their musicianship and more.
“I know that I sound like a broken record,” he said. “I keep telling people, ‘I know that it can’t possibly get any crazier than this, and then, the next year, it actually does.
“It continues to defy reason that our career can just continue to expand and grow at a point (in our mid-40s) when most musicians are probably doing a slow ride to the bottom. This is a very rare kind of ascent.”
Yet, it is one in which Niespodziani has remained close to his roots. When one of the hospice concerts became a livestream performance from Atlanta’s Coca-Cola Roxy, he donned orange Chuck Taylor basketball shoes in a salute to Hoosiers and his Columbus East High School’s primary color. This weekend, he’s considering outfitting himself in an orange and brown shirt in h0nor of East.
He’ll keep his meticulous concert prep same as always, though.
“It’s like preparing for a baseball game,” he said. “You’ve got to stick to your routine. You got get into the right rhythm and the right head space.
“But I wouldn’t be surprised in the midst of that if I have a few nerves. And I don’t normally have nerves about anything.”
Columbus resident and singer Janie Gordon, who volunteered for years alongside guitarist Niespodziani for the local, annual “American Pie” pop-rock concert, caught the group in concert in Sarasota, Florida, recently.
“I’m so happy” she said, “for their continued success.”
About the concert
Who: Yacht Rock Revue, featuring Columbus natives Nick Niespodziani and Peter Olson.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Boulevard in Nashville.
Information: browncountymusiccenter.com
