Nathaniel Rateliff On New Album ‘The Future’ And Striking A Balance

In February of 2020, singer songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff released the album And It’s Still Alright, an introspective batch of ten songs informed by loss.

Following the death of a friend and end of a marriage, Rateliff looked inward, taking a temporary break from his backing band The Night Sweats to work on the solo project.

However, in less than a month, the quarantine of early pandemic kicked in, taking live performance off the table indefinitely, making the new record all but impossible to promote after only a handful of live shows performed in support of it.

While many musicians were forced away from their band mates early in the pandemic, Rateliff drew The Night Sweats in, creating a bubble and safely working within his home studio on what would become the new album The Future (now available via Stax Records), ten brand new, full band songs which attempt to strike a balance despite looking ahead at an uncertain future during turbulent times.

“I was fortunate enough that I did have the studio and we were able to get together safely. And it was great. Because the band feels like family. And to have everybody together – we were all staying there together and eating our meals together – and we couldn’t have done that anywhere else during that time that would’ve felt like that. So I felt really blessed to be in that position,” said Rateliff ahead of a Night Sweats tour set to pick back up in 2022. “I’m just looking forward to making connections again with people and audiences and cities. Hopefully we’ll make it back to Europe and places in the States that we haven’t gotten to go to in several years at this point.”

I spoke with Nathaniel Rateliff about the cathartic process of making The Future, the storytelling arc that connects the new songs and the importance of striking a balance whatever the future may hold. A transcript of our phone conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.

There’s a thread that ties the songs on this album together. From beginning to end the songs lay out a story. There’s narrative. How important is the idea of storytelling to you when it comes to your songwriting? 

NATHANIEL RATELIFF: It’s important. I feel like each song kind of has its own journey. It’s interesting when you’re making a record how those songs are so different at the start and trying to make them connect over the process.

With songwriting and storytelling, it doesn’t always have to be heavy but I like the idea of the story being in there.

I’ve seen you name check John Prine. Who are some other favorite storytellers whether it’s musicians, writers or anyone else? 

NR: I’ve always been a big Leonard Cohen fan. I’ve always loved Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. As far as writing goes, I spend a lot of time reading science fiction and history books.

Well, the new album The Future… 2020, 2021 was an interesting time to ponder the future. What was the internal dialogue like as you started to ruminate on the ideas that would come to define the songwriting on this album? 

NR: Well, everything looked pretty bleak at the time. I try to write from a kind of observing the bleakness perspective while trying to have some hope in there. But, yeah, like you said, the thread through the songs is certainly kind of looking at what our future is. So that’s definitely what I was writing about and thinking about – and, at times, thinking about the potential of our future being not a very good one.

And sometimes it still feels that way. I don’t feel like we’ve really made it out of any of the issues we were dealing with in 2020. 

I read that the first song you wrote for this album was “The Future.” And on it you really address the times – greed for instance. How important was it to sort of begin the album that way?

NR: I was having a hard time at first.

In the process of making the record, we had three sessions where we were recording and had all gotten together. And after the second session, I just felt pretty lost as to what I should do and what songs should be on the record and what songs were going to be Night Sweats songs or if some of the songs I was writing were solo project songs. And I just couldn’t quite figure it out.

I brought in Bradley Cook to finish the record and produce for us. I had sent him an early version of “The Future” and he was like, “So, this one is going first on the record, right?” And I was like, “You think so? I didn’t even know if it should be on the record…” And he said, “It absolutely should be. I think it should go first.” And I just kind of leaned into that. 

I leaned into his advice. We’ve known each other for a long time. So I really respect him and appreciate his opinion. So that’s kind of how that song ended up being the title track and the first song. 

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You start the album on that note but by the end of it, you’re not just pointing out issues, you’re offering solutions. Like love. And it does strike a more positive tone. While it’s not necessarily an optimistic album per se, how important was it to have that balance? 

NR: Well, I was trying to have that balance. I pretend to be an optimist when I’m probably not at all. But I feel like balance is important to have in there.

It’s really easy to get caught up in the way we see things. And we as people, we all have a perception of what life is and we write our own stories. So if I’m writing a story that everybody’s going to be listening to, I certainly need to try and include a little bit of hope in there. 

Unlike so many musicians who were forced away from their band mates, you actually drew yours in during the pandemic, creating in your home studio, establishing that bubble and working together. How important was it to have that familiarity and have that camaraderie during a time that was otherwise going to be spent largely in isolation? 

NR: Well, I did spend a fair amount of it alone. But I was fortunate enough that I did have the studio and we were able to get together safely. And it was great. Because the band feels like family. And to have everybody together – we were all staying there together and eating our meals together – and we couldn’t have done that anywhere else during that time that would’ve felt like that. So I felt really blessed to be in that position. 

Obviously, there was a bit of a turbulent time for you personally going into the And It’s Still Alright solo album. Then touring came off the table in 2020 with the pandemic. Was making this album a cathartic experience at all for you during that stretch?

NR: Absolutely. I feel like most of the records are. And, really, just writing songs in general is very cathartic for me. It seems to be the way I process things. I don’t feel like I’m a very good communicator. So it’s clearly coming out in my writing. 

I think fans had a tendency the last year and a half or so to see their favorite artist do something like a livestream during the pandemic and maybe underestimate how dire the situation was for many musicians without the ability to tour. At a time like this where it’s already difficult to monetize recorded music, just how important has touring become? 

NR: I mean, touring, for us as The Night Sweats, is our bread and butter – and for me personally. I was definitely disappointed, to say the least, that I didn’t get to tour And It’s Still Alright aside from those ten shows and the Red Rocks shows we did with no audience.

It’s fantastic that we have streaming services that allow all of us to get music into the hands of listeners – but they certainly haven’t figured out a great way for everybody to share the wealth in some of that. So we’re still trying to figure that out. 

But just to be back out on the road I think was amazing for us as a band. We’re a live band. And I think people come to see us and know us because of that. And we try to have fun.

It also felt like, from the stage, seeing the audience reaction, that people really need to have that interaction that we have when we play live shows.