All the while, Rateliff kept writing and writing, trying to find the songs that would coalesce into an album.

Producer Brad Cook came in and helped to clarify. Before writing and recording, he was trying to square the distinction between what is a Nathaniel Rateliff solo song and what is a Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats song? He says he really struggled with the distinction. “The nuance is what’s important to try to get attention.”Īhead of writing The Future, Rateliff dealt with a conundrum. “I want people to pay attention to what I’m doing,” Rateliff says. The result is well-seasoned work, not slap-to-the-face sounds. For an artist known for screaming, “Son of a bitch, get me a drink!” in his first hit, today Rateliff exhibits great touch and nuance in his work. More recently, Rateliff released a more tender solo record, And It’s Still Alright, to great acclaim. Finally, though, Rateliff did with The Night Sweats’ song, “ S.O.B.” The romper was all over popular radio. Like any city where music is prized (Nashville, Seattle, Atlanta), there are local stars that can’t seem to break through nationally. For years, Rateliff toiled in the Denver music scene. The house stands because the foundation is strong. I really cleaned the shit out of those toilets.”īut it’s hard work that puts one in the position to succeed. “Still took pride in it,” Rateliff says, “I did it really well. He endeavored to find the joys in what he could. Even when he was a janitor for a “high school that I should have been going to” when he was 16- or 17 years old, he took pride in the work. As he says it, he had a lot of bad jobs over the years. The journey continues to change.”įrom a young age, Rateliff has worked hard.

“If I think I made it, really there’s no moment that feels like-where you can really celebrate that arrival. “The workload only intensifies, which is kind of funny,” Rateliff tells American Songwriter. It’s the result of the world seeing great offerings like the latest LP from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Future, which the band unveiled in November. This, too, Rateliff is learning as he continues to release albums and rise to the top of charts. For versatile-voiced singer and songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff, that saying holds true, at least when it comes to the hard work he pours into whatever task is at hand.įor Rateliff, hard work is a major reason for his success both locally in the Denver, Colorado music scene and now nationally, having recently played Saturday Night Live and penned the lead song (“ Redemption”) to the Justin Timberlake-led movie, Palmer. In other words, the way you approach scrubbing your kitchen sink is the same way you approach writing a college essay. There’s an idea: the way you do anything is the way you do everything.

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