via New York Times

Return of the Man Who Used to Rock

By LARRY ROHTER

The 40-year career of the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe constitutes a paradox: the songs he has written are better known than he is. He cheerfully acknowledges that many people think that Elvis Costello is the author of the Lowe song “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” and that the Johnny Cash version of “The Beast in Me” has come to overshadow his own, which was used on the soundtrack of the HBO series “The Sopranos.”

But at a stage in life when many of his peers are content to live off past glories, Mr. Lowe, now 62, is enjoying a remarkable second wind. Originally a purveyor of witty subversions of Top 40 confections — his first United States solo album, released in 1978, was called Pure Pop for Now People — he has reinvented himself in recent years as a writer and performer of spare, reflective songs rooted in the American country music and rhythm ‘n’ blues he imbibed as a child.

At the same time Mr. Lowe has remade his image to align it with the more mature content of his work, the latest example of which is The Old Magic, a CD released on Tuesday. Once the prototypical long-haired, insouciant rocker, he now affects an avuncular look, with a shock of snow white hair, à la the older Cary Grant, and a pair of…CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING AT NYTIMES.COM.

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