![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cb2cbc40e0a312045666f184df6a6c04cc-Nancy-Wilson-lede.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n \u201cI thought she was going to be some big diva, but she\u2019s this wonderful, sweet-hearted person, intelligent, and funny.\u201d
\n Photo: Ragan Henderson\n <\/p>\n
That super graphic ultra modern girl storming the stage with Chappell Roan? It was none other than Nancy Wilson<\/a>. The Heart co-founder and her Grimace-purple guitar were surprise guests at Roan\u2019s September 21 show at Forest Hills Stadium, where the duo performed what\u2019s become a tour staple for the pop star this year: \u201cBarracuda,\u201d a blistering song about industry slimeballs that Wilson wrote with her sister, Ann, in the late \u201970s. (Wilson previously told us<\/a> it\u2019s Heart\u2019s ballsiest song and represents \u201cthe power of a couple marine-corps brats.\u201d) Roan has recently been effusive in her adoration of \u201cBarracuda,\u201d telling the crowd, prior to Wilson\u2019s appearance, how it\u2019s among the greatest songs \u2014 perhaps even the greatest song \u2014 ever recorded.\u00a0The experience left Wilson optimistic for what lies ahead. \u201cIt gives me hope and positive appreciation for where the culture is going,\u201d she now explains. \u201cI was completely honored to do that for Chappell.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n When did you first become familiar with Chappell and aware that she was a big admirer of Heart? Were you familiar with her before she came to your show? What was it about the atmosphere that was so aspirational? How long had you been trying to link up to perform \u201cBarracuda\u201d together? At the show, Chappell said \u201cBarracuda\u201d is the one song that she wished she wrote. Did she tell you why she felt this way and her personal connection to it? Did you get a decent amount of rehearsal time? When I watched this performance I was awestruck that it was done with an all-women band, which I rarely ever see. Did that enhance the experience for you?
She came to Heart\u2019s Los Angeles show a couple months ago with some of her friends, like Lucy Dacus and those really cool girls from MUNA. It\u2019s great to see the next wave of women coming out to see us. It was a cool handing-off-a-generation feeling that connected everybody together both times.<\/p>\n
Yes. I\u2019m a songwriter and love good pop music \u2014 any good music when it\u2019s well written. I believe she\u2019s one of the great pop songwriters. The song structure of \u201cPink Pony Club\u201d is perfect, just to get technical about it. Going to her show at Forest Hills, I saw a much bigger picture of what she\u2019s doing with the youth culture.<\/p>\n
The throngs of young women and the inclusiveness and positivity of it was just mind-blowing. I\u2019ve been waiting for a new renaissance to start with art in this cranky-old-billionaire mentality\/white-guy culture that\u2019s been foisted on us. She\u2019s a shining light and a beacon of positive energy in the really dark time that we\u2019re in. Her team even brought a birthday cake to my friend who came as my guest to the show. It was beyond pleasant to work with those people, seeing the complete adoration of the audience and seeing how her songwriting brings the universal together with the personal.<\/p>\n
It was one of those things where, when we met, she was the sweetest person on earth. She said, \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be here and meet you.\u201d It was like, Where\u2019s Chappell Roan? I thought she was going to be some big diva, but she\u2019s this wonderful, sweet-hearted person, intelligent and funny. We went our separate ways, and she kept doing \u201cBarracuda\u201d on her tour. My hubby, Geoff, said, \u201cWell, maybe she\u2019d want you to play with her sometime.\u201d So we put the idea out there and her team responded, \u201cWhoa, would you really do it?\u201d I never would\u2019ve thought of insinuating myself into her show, but it was natural, since she does \u201cBarracuda\u201d every night.<\/p>\n
I think she relates to the song for the reason of what it\u2019s all about \u2014 the song kicks the asses of slimy guys in the culture. They\u2019re still everywhere. They haven\u2019t gone away. If anything, it\u2019s worse now than it was in the \u201970s. I think she\u2019s really reactionary and intelligent about her own sexuality and her place in a culture regarding her individual personhood. \u201cBarracuda\u201d speaks to her, and she\u2019s a radical and intelligent thinker.<\/p>\n
They did a sound check with me. They walked me through the drawbridge and how I should enter. I was like, Damn, I\u2019ve never had a drawbridge before. You\u2019d think I would\u2019ve had one by now, but not until Chappell Roan did I ever get my own personal drawbridge rock moment that was even cooler than any Spinal Tap rock moment. We rehearsed it a couple of times. We all had in-ear monitors, so you could hear cues and other stage directives during the show. I\u2019ve never had that before because we play 100 percent live with Heart, but they managed to make it unobtrusive. It was a completely authentic rock show.<\/p>\n
My mind was blown away by how completely confident they are as players. I\u2019m used to seeing all-girl bands be kind of cartoonish or something like, Yeah, we\u2019re holding the guitars and we look cute with the guitars. But Chappell\u2019s band knows their shit and plays really well. I know whom to call in the future.<\/p>\n