A noted figure in pub rock, power pop[1] and new wave,[2][3] Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums.

They released a few singles on the Parlophone record label as Kippington Lodge before they renamed the band Brinsley Schwarz in late 1969 and began performing country and blues-rock.

[7] "Cruel To Be Kind", which was a new Rockpile re-recording of a previously issued Brinsley Schwarz outtake, also charted in the top 40 in Ireland and New Zealand.

After the demise of Rockpile, Lowe toured for a period with his band Noise to Go and later with the Cowboy Outfit, which also included the noted keyboard player Paul Carrack.

[4] A New York Daily News article[13] quoted Lowe as saying his greatest fear in recent years was "sticking with what you did when you were famous."

Lowe's four most recent solo albums mine the wealth of American roots music, drawing on vintage country, soul and R&B to create an elegant mix of his own."

Lowe was quoted as saying that he had "escaped from the tyranny of the snare drum" in No Depression, (September–October 2001) when explaining his move away from regular pop music that would get played on mainstream radio.

[14] In 2008, Yep Roc and Proper Records released a thirtieth anniversary edition of Lowe's first solo album, Jesus of Cool (entitled Pure Pop for Now People in the US, with a slightly different track listing).

In September 2010 Yep Roc issued The Impossible Bird, Dig My Mood and The Convincer on vinyl for the first time, and after a one-night reunion concert with Elvis Costello in October in San Francisco,[15] Lowe embarked on his first non-solo United States tour "this millennium."

His backing band consisted of Geraint Watkins (keyboards), Robert Treherne (drums), Johnny Scott (guitar) and Matt Radford (bass).

Lowe also produced Elvis Costello's first five albums, from 1977 to 1981, including My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, and Armed Forces, which spun off numerous UK hit singles.

Other Stiff acts produced by Lowe included punk parody group Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias, new wave singer Wreckless Eric and roots rocker Mickey Jupp.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Lowe became more selective in his choice of outside production tasks, helming the 1986 LP Blood & Chocolate for Elvis Costello, a 1988 single ("Windows of the World" b/w "1969") for the Pretenders, and the Katydids' self-titled debut album of 1990.

In 2011, The New York Times claimed: "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.