Nashville – Nathaniel Rateliff. The name is getting bigger by the day. His new album is pumping life into the Rhythm and Blues section of the record store. A section maybe a little overlooked lately. He and his band, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, just dropped their self-titled album on August 21, and it dropped with a major boom. The album has sold over 21,000 albums just in the first week! Their first single “S.O.B.”, becoming a major hit after the band performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. They killed it. You could just feel it, these guys were on to something huge. Watching these guys was a breath of fresh air, with that deep soul singing we had been wishing to hear from more artists more recently. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats was recorded at Stax Records, a recording company out of Memphis, not far from where Nathaniel grew up. Memphis is known for producing those great blues artists of the past and now the present. The blues are back, give me a drink!
I had first heard them on Sirius XM this summer, and was totally in awe from the start. I couldn’t get enough and as soon as I could get the album I listened and listened. Falling harder and harder for the energy and life these songs create. It is so hard to sit still while listening to him sing and hear that trumpet, guitar and saxophone urging you off your seat. Sounds of Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, even The Band… Begging to get back in our ears and into our souls.
I had the chance to talk to Nathaniel recently. Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, I do not think of myself as a particularly cool person. I write for a cool publication. I write with extremely cool people. I surround myself with coolness. Hoping to soak some of that in I guess, but it hasn’t happened and probably never will. So, you can imagine my reaction when I found out I would be doing a feature on Nathaniel Rateliff. It wasn’t cool reaction I can tell you that. If you have ever read my blog or pretty much any of my work, it is no secret that I dance for any and all news I receive that is good. Yes, I broke out in a dance that I can only call my Nathaniel Rateliff dance now and forever.
Speaking of cool, Nathaniel Rateliff is cool. He seems very comfortable at where he is in life right now. Talking with him on the phone, he put me at ease during our interview; which is totally backwards. He had played the night before and was just chilling on his couch talking to me about releasing his new self-titled album, Rateliffing and songs he likes to dance to when the mood hits him. Not that that being in the spotlight is anything new to this guy. He has been around for a while, touring with great artists such as The Lumineers and Dr. Dog, sharing the stage with Mumford and Sons, Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Ben Howard and much, much more. He has had a dedicated following of fans out of Denver following him all over the continent for quite a few years. Many shows lately having to be moved to larger venues to accommodate ticket demands.
There were so many things I wanted to say to him but I knew I had to come at this like a professional and not a completely uncouth nitwit. Well, mostly I just wanted him to think I was cool, not that I had been imitating his dance moves for the past oh, how many hours are in four days? So here is my attempt at getting to the heart of this man in 15 minutes…
First of all thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk with you. You are a pretty busy guy right now!
I am about to be extremely busy but right now I am just sitting on my couch at home. [Laughing] We played last night.
Oh, so you were out all night?
No, no we started early I am actually good.
That always helps! Okay, so I will get started… You’ve been on tour with a lot of amazing artists putting out albums by yourself, how did you come together with the night sweats?
A lot of the guys are primarily the same ones I have been playing with since it was just Nathaniel Rateliff. Joseph Pope III [bass] and I have been playing together for 21 years. Patrick Meese has been with me for 8 years on the drums. Mark Shusterman [keys] has been a member for 3 or 4 years. Andy Wild [saxophone] played on our last record we put out, Falling Faster than You Can Run and Luke [Mossman] hasn’t been a member, he plays guitar for us. But he’s another friend of ours from Denver who is a great guitar player as well. Wesley Watkins, he plays trumpet. He’s been with us for two years now, he’s just another great player from Denver that we kinda all knew and it just happened to work out. I wrote all the songs here at home, demoed them, just started asking everyone who wanted to be a part of it and kept the same guys I always had.
So they just kind of gave themselves a name now?
Yeah.
Fans all over seem to be embracing the new album and going crazy for you and the band, doing things such as Rateliffing? What do you think about this, do you enjoy it?
I think it’s pretty funny. Rateliffing really isn’t new though, I was on tour with some friends that used to do this thing they called the Rateliff where they folded up a piece of ham and ate it. [Laughing]
So it’s not new to you?
Uh, no. [Still laughing]
Your first single S.O.B. from the new album, I love the irony of such a gospel feeling song yet its name is son of a bitch. Is that something you did on purpose, or did it just kind of happen?
I kind of wrote the song as a joke, just kind of made it up and I didn’t really expect it to be the song everybody likes, but you know whatever. I’ll take what I can get. I wanted it to be a gospel sing along type song. I sketched out the idea and had the band play along. Then later came back and wrote all the words. I ended up trying to make it lighthearted about a pretty intense situation.
Obviously you grew up heavily influenced by the church and the gospel style of singing and you were so young when you started writing songs. What were those songs like and do you still have them?
I wrote pretty ridiculous songs and I don’t think I have recordings or anything, but I can remember some of them. When I first started playing guitar, I started writing songs right away, but I didn’t have any intention of being a singer or songwriter. I didn’t plan on being the next Jimmy Hendrix or anything. [Laughing]
Watching you perform, you absolutely give everything you have. Do you ever think I just don’t have the energy tonight?
I do feel really tired sometimes. Like I played a show the other day and I was really irritated at something but you just have to be above whatever it that is bothering you. Sometimes I am really good at it.
What goes through your mind when you’re performing?
It could be anything, I could totally be locked into the song or thinking about what I want to eat or that I should have went to the bathroom before I got on. Just a lot of different things running through your head, just varies.
So just a regular day at work?
Yeah, in some ways yeah! Shorter though. [Laughing]
I recently watched Austin to Boston. The doc seems to get most personal with you. Would you say you are just naturally a more serious person or did Gill Landry just bring that out in you?
I was having a pretty hard time in my life at that point. I had quit drinking and my wife and I had separated for a moment. I was trying to fix a lot of things. Drinking a lot of the time and being gone a lot of the time, you end up making massive mistakes that way. So I was out on this tour, seemed kind of ridiculous at the time. I was like, what am I doing, I should be home, trying to fix my life. So it just kind of came at a heavy time. So anytime they came to talk to me, asking me to show them where I grew up, I would just be this dark, self-reflecting, yeah I’ll show you some shit. [Laughing]
Do you still keep in touch with everyone?
Yeah, Gill is a good buddy we keep in contact. I just hung out with The Staves recently. I am going to see the director of the film this weekend, Marcus Haney, and the guys from Bears Den. Yeah you know I think it’s funny, during the filming I was having a hard time, but the friends I made on that trip will be forever.
What songs of yours are you most proud of?
I really like “Forgetting is Believing” and… there is a couple of lines from “Something Beautiful” and I also like “How to Make Friends” which is from an EP we put out in the UK.
And you do have some pretty amazing dance moves…
Well, thank you!
You’re very welcome! What song makes you want or need to dance? Any song in the world, not just one of your songs.
When I used to work in this trucking company, anytime “Dance to the Music” by Family Stone would come on, I would sneak into the trailer and have my own secret dance party.
I love it! Okay, what was the first song you ever fell in love with?
That is a tough one. I have different memories for different things. I remember hearing Roger Miller for the first time and hearing “Chug-a-Lug”. I was probably like seven or something and I thought that was the coolest thing I ever heard. But then I remember hearing Bob Dylan on the radio and hearing “Rainy Day Women” and thought that was the coolest thing I had ever heard. But then I also remember hearing “Imagine”. I remember going to church and I kept singing “Imagine” and my dad was like you probably should quit singing that, it’s a really humanistic song, and I was so baffled because my parents were like the worship leaders. So yeah I started to question things thinking, “If God made music, then why is this better than what we play?” So that was my demise right there.
Finally, what is your drink of choice? Just any whiskey and soda?
Whiskey and soda water with a straw and generally stick to Jack Daniels but I also really like Basil Hayden and Old-Granddad.
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats are currently on tour and if you hurry you can catch a show! This is one live act you don’t want to miss. They are turning the country upside down with hit after hit. Do yourself a favor and buy this album. You won’t be disappointed.
Check out the band’s website for a free download and to checkout tour dates among other things all Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats by Malia James
Jess Sneed
“The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.” –Fabienne Fredrickson
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