The Covid-19 pandemic and quarantines of 2020 caused disruptions in the music industry that we’re still feeling a few years later. But while we’re fortunate that the lack of live music will fade into memory, the releases of quarantine albums may very well add up to an interesting reflection of these unprecedented times. 

With no opportunities to tour and limits on how and when musicians could gather to write and record songs, many artists created and recorded music in isolation. Or collaborated remotely to produce new music. 

One of those projects was Johnny Lied, a collaboration between two longtime friends. Jon Herchert, a veteran Minnesota musician and accomplished producer John Fields used their time in 2020 to reimagine classic albums. 

Their second effort was a full rearrangement and recording of Billy Joel’s The Nylon Curtain. The song-by-song remake stripped down Billy’s most meticulously-orchestrated album and built it back with entirely new instrumentation and perspective. 

The duo released a song a week with accompanying videos on YouTube. As the last track hit the internet, we sat down with Herchert and Fields to learn about why they chose this album, how they recorded separately from each other, and how they see the album as relevant to the world today. 

Along the way, we also talked about the state of the music industry today and got a glimpse of the Midwest rock scene. 

Join us as we dig deep into a unique reimagining of The Nylon Curtain.

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Produced by Michael Grosvenor & Jack Firneno for Groove Music Marketing

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