Nathaniel Rateliff: 2020

Nathaniel Rateliff first visited FUV's studios back in 2010, fronting his band, The Wheel, and playing music that he characterized as folk. After a couple of compelling solo albums, he formed The Night Sweats, who trade in music rooted in R&B and — as he points out in our most recent conversation — included a number of the same players he worked with early in his career.

Over the last six years, Rateliff and the Night Sweats have blown up with a handful of hit songs, two albums, and hundreds of live appearances that have earned the band a sterling reputation for excitement and musicianship. In this new decade, this Denver-based artist, who grew up in rural Missouri, has returned to a solo and acoustic mode of expression with his new album, And It’s Still Alright.

Rateliff played the new material live for the first time before an audience at our 15th annual Holiday Cheer for FUV benefit show at the Beacon Theatre last December. In this FUV Live session (recorded a couple of weeks prior to that concert), he performed three songs from the new album and shared some of the personal experiences that fueled his writing. He also told me about his social justice work with The Marigold Project, and even his "Nightstache Collection" offered through Willie’s Reserve.

[Recorded: 11/20/19; Engineer: James Ordway; Producer: Sarah Wardrop]