![]() New York magazine pegged Rateliff as an “artist everyone should be listening to” during the pivotal CMJ Music Festival. The New York Times praised Rateliff’s “stark, eloquent Cash echoes,” and he earned enthusiastic mentions from Time Out New York and the tastemaker music blog, Brooklyn Vegan. Billboard dubbed the unsigned singer-songwriter a ‘must hear.’ This wave of acclaim lead to a live set on the popular indie site Daytrotter and a solo tour opening for the Fray. Spin praised his “massive, alluring” voice. Meanwhile, Rateliff developed a dedicated following within the Denver music community and beyond. The first song he tackled was Leonard Cohen’s melancholy classic, “Hallelujah.” (That same mixture of the sacred and profane is recognizable on “We Never Win,” with its throwbacks to gospel vocal harmonies, Rateliff harkening to “an old time revival.”) Rateliff used the break to learn the piano, much as he had other instruments-by teaching himself. It was a period of rest and recovery, but also one of artistic growth and fresh challenges. Weird stuff that shouldn’t be happening when you’re in your 20s, but it was.” After a battery of tests Rateliff decided to take time off from the job. “My limbs were going numb, the color was all weird in ‘em. “I had a little stint of narcolepsy,” he says. The money was good, but Rateliff kept falling asleep at the wheel. He scored a job with a trucking company, working on the dock and the yard. He’d later go electric, gaining an appreciation for the freedom of effect pedals: “I was really into making feedback for hours at a time.” Both impulses are present on In Memory of Loss, with its shards of raw guitar rising beneath hushed, insistent melodies.Īt eighteen Rateliff relocated to Denver. His mother taught him three chords, a friend showed him a few more, and there was no need to bother with lessons he started penning his own songs on an acoustic. There’s something really nice about there not being much to do it really helped me be a creative person.” After his father passed away, when Rateliff was only 13, he picked up the guitar. He built skateboard ramps, explored caves, slept outdoors in the heat. Rateliff’s youth in rural Missouri was quiet and rambling. As a teenager, he stumbled across a cassette of Led Zeppelin’s IV abandoned in a local barn he wore the tape out listening to it on headphones, drumming along with “When the Levee Breaks” and “Misty Mountain Hop.” The family sang together throughout his childhood. ![]() Rateliff grew up of modest means, the son of devout Southern churchgoers. Laughing (Yours Truly Session with Nathaniel and The Wheel)Īlbum Samples .uk Widgets Biography: ![]() Just listen to Early Spring Till and you’ll hear why people are getting excited about this great new talent.Įarly Spring Till: The album was produced by Brian Deck (Califone, Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse), who helped transform 8-track bedroom demos into miniature epics of contrast, beauty, and yearning. He is just as powerful a songwriter and he makes his Rounder Records debut with In Memory of Loss. Nathaniel Rateliff has that lived in voice I associate with the likes of Steve Earle. One not to miss, it’s going to be a beautiful evening of music. This will be a great highlight of the festival as the crowd will also be treated to Iron and Wine and Low Anthem in the same evening. Nathaniel will be performing on Wednesday 8th September at the Festival Marquee, a performance that I’m personally looking forward to seeing this week. Nathaniel Rateliff of Denver will be making his first debut appearance in Ireland this week at the Open House Festival in Belfast. ![]()
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