Nathaniel Rateliff – Red Rocks 2020 (Live) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:20:28 minutes | 918 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stax

On March 2nd, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN., Nathaniel Rateliff kicked off his highly anticipated tour supporting And It’s Still Alright, the singer-songwriter’s acclaimed new solo album which had just been released. Nine days later everything changed-the pandemic hit, and the sold-out nine-month run was cancelled. For Rateliff and the incredible talent he assembled for this run, it was a crushing blow. Even in its initial stages, the band and crew knew they had something incredibly special.

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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:07:20 minutes | 752 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stax Records/Concord Music

Songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff established himself as a critically celebrated folksy Americana singer/songwriter on 2010’s In Memory of Loss, his Rounder Records debut. Though he played in straight-ahead rock & roll bands before then, his independent releases since have been of intimate, poignant, and pensive songs. Until now. This self-titled offering on Stax is a hard-swinging, house-rocking affair that draws heavily on vintage R&B, soul, and proto rock & roll. Though Rateliff has displayed emotion in his vocals since the beginning, even fans have never heard him like this. Influences from Sam & Dave to Van Morrison to Sam Cooke range freely on this set — and he has the voice to pull it off. The sessions were helmed by producer Richard Swift, who captured Rateliff and his large band — complete with a swaggering horn section (and occasionally subtle strings) — with just enough reverb to make it sound live. “I’ve Been Falling,” with its upright piano and handclaps, delves deep into vintage Morrison territory without really emulating him (though Rateliff comes closer on the album’s last track, “Mellow Out”). The raw soul passion in “Trying So Hard Not to Know” evokes the historic Stax ethos perfectly, while sidling up to the Band’s Big Pink era. “S.O.B.” has verses saturated in Southern gospel, with foot stomping and handclaps as the only accompaniment, before the entire band erupts in a carousing chorus. This reverses gospel’s usual Saturday-night-to-Sunday-morning course; it is one of the rowdiest broken-heart songs you’ll ever hear. “I’d Be Waiting” is a tender, wide-open love song with a late-night jazzy soul feel. The singer’s voice is haunted equally by the spirits of Cooke and Bobby “Blue” Bland. If this album has a weakness — and it does — it’s that Rateliff’s use of these forms and styles in his writing is not only basic — which is fine — but overly formulaic. Only the pedal steel-driven Americana in the absolutely lovely “Wasting Time” — which recalls the Gregg Allman of Laid Back — deviates; one or two more songs in this vein (especially with this band) would have made all the difference. That’s a small complaint, one that will deter few. Rateliff’s world-weary, deeply expressive tenor and lyrics place him on a different level than any of the current crew of revivalists.

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Nathaniel Rateliff – And It’s Still Alright (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 42:19 minutes | 824 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stax

‘Nathaniel Rateliff has written and recorded his first solo record since the explosive debut of his work together with The Night Sweats. And It’s Still Alright, is an intensely personal 10-song album of vibrant country-blues, badland ballads, ornate Americana and jazz-inflected R&B. Rateliff’s warm baritone, ranging from gently hushed to a guttural howl, imbues these superbly drawn character studies with raw, naked emotion. And It’s Still Alright was produced by Rateliff, Night Sweats’ drummer Patrick Meese and James Barone of the indie band, Beach House and primarily recorded at National Freedom in Cottage Grove, Oregon, the studio formerly owned by the late Richard Swift (who produced both Night Sweats recordings). While Rateliff, Meese and Barone handled much of the album’s instrumentation, several friends make contributions including Night Sweats’ guitarist Luke Mossman; bassist Elijah Thomson (of the indie band Everest); keyboardist Daniel Creamer (of The Texas Gentlemen); steel guitarist Eric Swanson (touring musician for Israel Nash) and renowned string arranger Tom Hagerman (of the instrumental vocal ensemble DeVotchKa), whose delicate orchestrations beautifully complement the album’s deep emotional terrain. And It’s Still Alright’s many highlights include album opener “What A Drag,” which sketches a vivid portrait of a disconnected relationship, “Tonight #2,” a haunting, end-of-the-world waltz, “Time Stands,” detailing an epic, desperate struggle for love and the elegiac “Rush On,” a heart-breaking requiem for Swift. Unguarded and unflinchingly real, Nathaniel Rateliff’s And It’s Still Alright expands on the sounds and styles he’s used to great affect across both his band and solo careers.’

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