Oldsters just keep on listening to the same old stuff, because no one serves up stuff that they’d like. And sure, the band has that AAA action, but most people don’t bother listening to that format, it’s a backwater. Take baby boomers to a Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats show and they’d be instantly converted, they’d have to go again and again. Kendrick Lamar? Sure, he’s got rabid fans, but I’d wager more people in America have never heard his music than have.Īnd the record business sits by idly thinking it’s triumphing. Sure, people see their names bandied about, but they don’t know the music. No one has complete mindshare, not Kanye, not Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, most people are unaware of the act. If you’re looking to give it a few years before graduate school, music is not for you. And believe me, there were hard times, it was not smooth sailing. These aren’t the usual suspects who moved to the coasts and took every opportunity, rather they’re a group of friends who stuck together until they found the right formula. To the point where the buildings keep getting bigger and bigger.Īnd the band members… They’re lifers. Meanwhile, they kept working and more tickets were sold. Being on the second stage at five or six can pour gasoline on your career, if you deliver. ![]() Opening at a festival is a fool’s errand. Playing late enough in the day to gain mindshare, to reach 5000+ people. Do you know how hard it is to make it? Once you’re there, anybody can steer the ship, but getting there? Band members doubled-up in budget hotel rooms. But with Rateliff’s show, the roots resonate, this is music that is part of the firmament, American bedrock, it lifts you higher, it makes you feel good. Most shows are a waste of time unless you know the material beforehand. The first thing insiders would say is…TOO MANY PLAYERS! Do you really need a horn section? But it’s the full band sound that puts the show over the top, it’s not a freight train mowing you down, but a fire on the mountain that you just cannot ignore, that draws you to it. Whereas the music of Rateliff, et al, breathes, it’s alive itself, the band is just a vehicle. Now it’s about saying you were there, hearing canned tunes that remind you of what you heard online. It used to be different, you used to go to the gig to be set free, to let the music open your mind, set your soul afire, leave this crazy world behind. And the truth is, despite the TV appearances and the AAA radio action, that’s where the band’s career has been built, on the road, via word of mouth. The phenoms, the pop stars can go directly to arenas, but the lifers have to slug it out, build it fan by fan on the road. And this hit led to a shot on Fallon that got traction on YouTube and suddenly, the band could play clubs. They almost left “S.O.B.” off the album, believing it was too obvious, but the truth is you can never underestimate the power of a hit. Rateliff was ready to give up, but Chris said yes and there was a U-turn to R&B/soul with the Night Sweats, and suddenly the agglomeration was a household name. Then again, it’s hard to get one interested. No band ever made it without a great manager. It didn’t.Īnd when Chris Tetzeli moved to Denver and exited Red Light Rateliff took him to lunch, would Chris manage him? He kicked around Denver making folkish records wondering when his ship would come in. First and foremost they’re about the music, not the penumbra, all the things that come with fame that have nothing to do with what goes into your ears.īut Nathaniel Rateliff had no fame, not for a very long time. I’m not sure we can categorize the rest of the hit parade as such. This show was not about selfies, but bonding with the act, with the music, a show with nothing on hard drive and no beats and synthesizers and you wonder…WHAT IS GOING ON?įirst and foremost, Nathaniel Rateliff is a musician. ![]() We’re still adjusting to the internet era, we’re still adjusting to streaming, all the focus is on record companies when the truth is music lives in performance, at venues that draw people for the experience. Then you realize it’s pop and hip-hop that dominate the media, and you wonder…WHAT IS GOING ON? You’re standing there thinking it’s 1969, that it’s all about bands and being able to play and…
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