Nathaniel Rateliff

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit Nora Jones channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hey, I'm Nora Jones and today I'm playing along with Nathaniel Rateliff. I'm just playing along with you. I'm just playing along with you. Hi, welcome to the show. I'm Nora Jones and this is Sarah Oda. Hello, hello. We have a very awesome episode today. We have Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and band leader, Nathaniel Rateliff. And his band is Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, which is the best band name ever. That's a great band name. He's released several solo albums and then released the Night Sweats self title debut album in 2015. His latest album came out in 2024 called South of Here. And alongside a steady run of touring with the band. We had so much fun. Every time I hear his music, I stop and I listen and I'm so happy. Like if I hear it on the radio or something, it just always feels so good. I know I was so happy he could do this. I know it's his songs are like stories. And his voice is incredible and it's just it was really fun. Yeah, this one was great. In this episode, you're going to hear about his sort of unexpected journey to discovering who he is as an artist. You're also going to hear about the art of doing a cover song, which can be tricky sometimes. And as always, there's beautiful duet performances. And this episode has extra songs in it. Yeah, it has a lot more songs than the norm. Tune. Here it is. Enjoy the episode with Nathaniel Rateliff. All right. All right, we got this. I'll wait till I stop doing the lip drill. Hey, music. Here we go. All right. I feel the fall and rain. I see a man crying. Because the whole world is let him down. Kids are laughing at funny faces. Of the clown. My mind is like a spring in the clock. It won't unwind. I can't see. I can't think. I can't feel out of time. I'm up and down. Tell me where is it going to end? You say it starts at the beginning. I'll be here, my friend. I hear thunder. And I can feel the wind. I can see angry faces in the eyes of men. And don't forget where kids lay bleeding on the ground. And there's no place on this planet where peace can be found. So there'll be stabbings and shootings and young men dying all around. And it keeps going through my brain. I can still hear the sound. I hear talking of people the whole world is gone insane. An oldie dead is the falling rain. An oldie dead is the falling rain. An oldie dead is the falling rain. That was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. What a great tune. Such a good, the whole record is good. So good. I love that record. I think it took me a while to find that one actually was given that at Richard Swift's Memorial Service. Really? Yeah, people were instructed to like bring a piece of vinyl and exchange it with somebody else. Oh wow. What a beautiful way to do that. A lot of people forgot. But then a really close friend of Richard's gave me a copy of that. He's like, you know, this is one of Richard's favorite records. That's amazing. And you didn't know it yet? I didn't know it. I knew Link Ray from like, yeah. Rumble. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. Such a killer, three chords. This is the best, the best three chords. I knew that because I used to like, I got my first little Fender champ, like a silver face one, like vibro champ from my uncle, from Big Earn, my uncle Ernie. And I would just like play that on everything on tin. That's great. You know, and then play to rumble. I think that's the best song for a new guitar player to learn. Oh, you just feel like you're slaying. It just feels like you're doing it. Yeah. And even that little figure is not hard to get. It's like, I'm not going to attempt it right now. You can do it. I know you can. I'd be like, you can go and go. Yeah, like a total shit. Yeah, you just kind of did it. Yeah. You just kind of did it. Yeah. But it's also fun to just put like noise canceling headphones on now and listen to that record. Yeah. And if you have headphones on, you can tell that like the main vocal is just done over a scratch take. That's why they don't get. Yeah. Okay. The double's a scratch. I love the double. Yeah. That totally makes sense. But it doesn't line up like it's really messy. Like I think the whole record is so cool and vibey and actually sounds rad. But it's just so messy. And I think it's a great example of music doesn't have to, it never has to be perfect. You know, like, It's better if it's not. Yeah. Well, people haven't like, I feel like a lot of young people and I certainly did. Like I had an expectation of what like a recording experience is supposed to be. Yeah. But it really is about like feel and fun. You know, like if you're having a good time, it's probably going to be what you want. It's about the emotion capturing the emotion. Yeah. Yeah. And it can be messy. But I also feel like there's a way to make your voice very emotive. And it's like you're going there without going there. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you can sound away and like you don't have to cry on every take. No, those are beautiful moments when they happen. But I certainly had an expectation when I was younger that like everything had to have that kind of feeling. It had to like really mean something. And I think it still gets across the emotions. Well, if the emotion of the song is in you, you don't have to cut yourself. Exactly. Yeah. And bleed on the tape. Exactly. You know. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I was wondering if you wanted to talk about Richard Swift a little. I'd love to. I love Richard. I think about him every day. I actually carry like a little traveling of frienda and I have like, I set up a Polaroid of Richard and my father and like little trinkets and then. Oh, wow. And some of it is a way that like when you're moving all the time, like then there's like, there's a familiar sense, you know, like. It keeps that sense of when you're traveling. And then yeah. And I just like I like that. I don't do anything like that. No, you should just get something. I should. I think I would enjoy it. Yeah. The ritual. I love that kind of stuff. So, but you know, I love flowers and you know, at a certain point you can start to ask for things and it's not like a terrible thing to ask for. It took me a long time to like flowers. Yeah. You can ask for flowers in your green room. So I just get totally I get lilies every day. And so then those are all familiar sense that I really enjoy and they were like peaceful. So like tour can be chaotic. And you know, like I feel like it was hard to even ask for my own dressing room for a long time because then I felt like I was trying to like. Because you're in a band. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm not trying to like exclude myself or elevate myself to a different place. It's really like there's different things required of me, you know, and like I even though they had a realization the other day when I was doing something with the Colorado Symphony and it was like five guys in the band, like me and four of the guys in the band and then two other singers. And I like walked into the green room and everybody was there and there's like four conversations going on. And you know, tour managers ask me questions, production managers asking questions, assistants asking me questions. I was like, and I got to do a 20 minute vocal warm up. And I was like, I can't, I can't actually be in this room. There's like too much chaos and like I have to find my center, you know. Yeah. And I used to never really do that. I used to just feel like I was like kind of spinning out a lot, you know. That's interesting. And so all those things are like ways to find like some sort of peaceful spot than to move outward from there, you know. Background noise is a problem, I think. Yeah. I can multitask, but I can't have multiple conversations at once. Yeah. You know, like I can dovetail on the stove or do a bunch of things, but like conversation with music. And my hearing is a little appropriate for my age and the amount of heavy equipment and loud stuff I've been around. So like, you know, it's not like terrible, but it gets too much at once is like sensory overload. Yeah, it gets overwhelming. The questions, the constant questions is hard too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you just want to be alone. Like left alone, maybe. Like when can I be alone? I don't know. Maybe later today. I know. It's one of the things I worry about having kids sometimes. Oh yeah. No, they won't let you be alone. But it's fun, you know. Yeah. They're full of struggles too, but it's pretty fun. Yeah. But back to the Richard thing. Richard, like it was just an interesting period of my life because I'd been like a singer-songwriter for years and toured and I was kind of ready to give up, you know. And I had been a gardener, was doing fine gardening and landscaping and touring at the same time. Oh wow. But it was nice because I could come home and do a job I really liked. I was good at it and so and grew up doing a lot of that kind of work. When I was supposed to be in high school, I was a janitor and a groundskeeper for a high school. So real. It was sort of like you went to high school. Kind of like good real hunting, but I wasn't like solving any math problems at night. So but that movie's definitely written about me. Oh, and I remember I was just wanted to like create something that like I always love R&B and soul and and I just started doing demos in my house and I was on tour with somebody who's friends with Richard. I had met Richard briefly. We crossed paths because of Delta Spirit when I was on tour with them and we were in the UK and he happened to be there and popped in and we hung out in the green room and chatted and and years, you know, and then it would have been several years later that I was working on these demos just kind of as a way like a song exploration with really no like they just, you know, sometimes stuff just starts to show up. It just starts to come out of you. And so you end up being like a conduit or the vessel. Sorry, this is very long winded explanation. I like it though. It's like a seven hour. So I ended up getting connected with Richard again because a friend who was on tour with me gave me his number after I played her a couple of the demos. She was like, you should send this to Richard. I sent it to him and then I just got like a cold call in the middle of the night. Middle of the night. Well, like late at night, like 10 30, you know, and he was like, hey, it's Richard. You know, I was like, hey, man, I was going, he's like, oh, good, you know, I was just like listening. He's pretty cool. What's your process? I was like, I was like one mic and move around the room. He's like, it's pretty much what I do. That's cute. Yeah. He's like, you're in junior high. Yeah, it was. Oh, yeah. It's like, Conward, I do. I was like, it's not what he does. And then we just started to talk. And at the time I had also like, I originally got signed around to records as a singer, songwriter and that's sort of like when I went to present, I had like, I don't know, 20 some odd songs for my second record. And I was really excited about those demos and always enjoyed the process of demoing stuff by myself. It's hard to beat those, I think sometimes. Yeah, the demo it is is a real thing. I mean, I prefer them. I do too. I usually use them. I use them or sometimes I've started, I found a trick that I would just, if I liked the demo so much and we weren't recreating it, I would be like, play the demo and I am going to use the demo as like a scratch. Yeah. You know, and then kind of follow the feel and the move. Makeup on it a little. Exactly. And then so, you know, I went to like present these demos to round of records and they just didn't get it. And so I was, that record never got made through them. I got dropped. And then even my whole record first release was just like kind of, you know, it kind of got shelved. You went through the spin cycle of the record business. Yeah. And then, you know, just like hard because I had a band, but I was like signed as a solo artist. And then your band's like resentful as well because they're like, I thought we were a band. That's a whole other dynamic. Nobody really realizes. It's a real thing. And labels aren't really good at like. They don't care. They're not trying to bring people together. They're a bunch of squares that they don't know how a lot of people get jobs in the industry. But there are great people in the industry and I've been blessed to work with a lot of them. That's good. And so then I like co-produced and self-released with the help of my management, the next record. And it was just a struggle, you know, and I, like, it's like, how long can you play small rooms and not get anywhere. And it was just like the travel's hard. At the time I was married and I was raising my daughter. And then Concord came to me, which was funny because they had bought Rounder and then I got dropped. Then they came back. Yeah. After I released one record on my own, it was working on EP and then started the Night Sweat stuff. And I was really reluctant to work with them because, you know, to get dropped from a label is just like heartbreaking. It's just really there. And I feel like I was right at the start of the end of artist development. Where they don't nurture artists anymore. If you can't have a blow-up hit, like I feel so much for people that are just like in the van doing the work because I did that for so long. And most of my career until the past 10 years was that. But you need time to discover who you are as a songwriter and as a performer. And I feel for the people that go from nothing to stadiums. That's the new thing, right? The social media, they get enough followers and then all of a sudden they're in a stadium and they barely get out playing clubs. But then it's even hard to how you build your team and the people that surround you. Then are you like only surrounded by yes people? Or are you only surrounded by people that are interested in the amount of revenue they can generate from you and bolster their own careers and their own finances? So yeah, it's tricky. Yeah. And there's like so many pitfalls to that. But I ended up signing with Concord. And Concord also works with Stax Records. And so in the process of making the record with Richard, I was like, you know, like the Stax catalog was a huge influence in the Southern soul sound on that first record. And so it ended up coming out on Stax. And Matt Marshall was my A&R guy there. Trying to work just together. And Matt has always been really supportive. That's the other thing is like with Concord, they've never been like, we don't like this, go back and go back and work on more. I've just always been like, this is the record. This is what I want to do. This is great. And I don't think people get that a lot. So I feel more blessed on that. Yeah, I feel lucky in that way too. It's tricky people chasing things. That's not how I feel like music should be. It's one thing to be inspired or ambitious, but it's another thing to chase something that isn't inspired quite. I know we were talking about Richard and I just keep telling you far more information. It was great. It was a good like lead up to how it all happened. And then and then you worked with him. Then we met. I met Richard and it was like, I went out there alone because I didn't really, the night sweats weren't a band. It was just me and the attic. Yeah. Richard and I, like it was like a kindred spirit immediately. Yeah. And he would even be like, oh, it's like you're my twin. And I was like, and we were like, we were partying. Like, you know, like just drinking, like not no drugs, weed, when he's not drugged them. And we just really drank and we really went for it. But that aside, like our ability to work together and his sense of melody and his ability in the studio to just like crank shit out, because essentially we would like get a song done in four hours. And you would just both play everything and yeah. Yeah. I started off on drums as a kid, so I can play drums, Richard could play drums. Okay. He would play keys. And then yeah, just play guitar and bass. And then we overdub horns later on. We didn't even have horns on that first record. I think that's my favorite way to work. Yeah. If you have the right chemistry. That's how I work with Leon. Usually. Yeah. Cause you can work so fast. Yeah. And it's just, it still sounds organic and sort of off the cuff, even though it's all overdubbed kind of. Yeah. Have you done more than one record with Leon? I did two records with I did a Christmas record. I know the most recent one was him, but I mean, we did have a band on a few songs and it was amazing, but I just, I think, is that like Tommy and no, I used my drummer, Brian blade, but, but it's really Leon on drums on more than half of the record because the, the demos were fun and they sounded great. So we just didn't end up redoing them. I love it. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's just such a fun way to work, you know, there's good and there's bad things about having a lot of people in the room, you know, and I even like, it can be magical, but it can be, but sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen just makes for a terrible meal. And, and so sometimes the like the two voices and two ideas. Yeah. That was the other funny thing is like the, the song that Richard first chose, like the first day it was like, I felt like the dorkiest song I brought in, it was sort of like, he was like, let's do this one. That's funny. I was like, what? It's not what you expected. I was like, I was like, yeah, you know, but, but now in hindsight, I realized it was like, for the first day of getting comfortable together and getting sounds and, yeah. And then, you know, like from a producer's perspective, watching somebody else work and then trying to understand that now it makes a lot more sense than it did then. But yeah. Yeah. That's cool. What's that song you said, get used to the night? Yeah. You want to do that? I do. I do. Kind of relates. It does. I remember, is it four or five? Is this from the newer album? This is from, yeah. And so this actually, I, after, you know, I started working on some songs that like during the second record, I was doing with Richard, I was actually starting to go through a divorce as well. And there's some songs that like I'd play for Richard. And I was like, this is not for the Night sweats. This is like something else. And he was like, whoa. He's like, I like that. He's like, can never be two Nielsen, you know. And so we had plans to make this like solo record after the second one. And he was going through separation as well. And we were both struggling with alcoholism. Like we could disappear together and get hammered or we would be our each other support systems too, you know. Yeah. And so I ended up making that record without Richard after he passed away. And so I kind of wrote a lot of the songs from that space of like, like, how do we recognize that brokenness that's in us that I feel is like a part of human experience without letting it like take you drag you back in. Do you think that the part of that cycle with the addiction was writing songs out of it on a certain part of the circle? I think I think the songs because in the way I write sometimes there can be a lot of stream of conscious stuff. And so you're not really aware of what you're talking about until you like take a step back and like hear what you're saying. And that can be heartbreaking to then see yourself in the lyrics in a way that you can't in your own life, you know. So there's some like lines in here that I feel like reference like the I used to stay home and ride through my bed is like just about having delirium tremors. So and then even the title and the line get used to the night get used to the night that however craft this sounds is like, like get used to being dead. Geez. So let's do this one. Let's do it. I love it. All right, here we go. Music Used to get around you found one way one to get around and one to get through. Music And I'll feel the night like so many lost days I used to stay home and ride in my bed. Wish I could retire. Are you still hard with I used to do card wheels to land on my head. Music Used to know it all but I can never much man. I used to be a proud fucking fool. Music You're running ahead and I'll catch up man. It's still so much love for me to do. Music Get used to the night. Music This ain't your town going wrong down to one way. Yeah, I gotta hide myself from the storm. Don't know how long I will. You found some way one to get around and one to get through. Music I used to do it all but I ain't got the mind now. I just been tired of being used. Music You could be a sailor that I used to have something I used to be you. Music Music Get used to the night. Music Get used to the night. Music This beautiful. That's a beautiful song. Thank you. Yeah. It's crazy knowing things about a song and hearing it. Well it's funny because I feel like even like the writers I love, when I was growing up you just didn't hear the inside scoop on a Bob Dylan song or Leonard Cohen or Townsend's aunt. Those are all like secrets and now the way we work is like everybody wants to know everything and they feel like they're entitled to it. Yeah and I'm happy to share it. I think if you're happy to share it then it's great. Yeah but it's also like in terms of like social media sometimes that feels so forced or like my least favorite thing to do is like an EPK. Oh yeah. And they're like tell me what this song is about. I was like no. Like now. Why don't you use your brain? Yeah I was like it took me a long time to figure out. I have no education. This is hard for me you know like so but yeah I don't know. It's funny. I'm not really into sharing what things are about usually but it might be because I find some of the things either too personal obviously but also some things might be not as deep as people might think it is. Yeah exactly but I also like I understand like there are certain like certainly in the past they had written stuff where I was like it was stuff I was having a hard time saying in my life. Yeah. Like you don't want to like give that away in your electronic press kit. No no. You know what I mean to be like I'm struggling with my marriage and this and that you know. Yeah exactly. Yeah I know and also I think that sometimes it's a way to deal with that stuff without having to look at it or say it out loud. I mean it's like therapy in a way. It is. Writing songs you know you writing it to get out. I remember I wrote a whole batch of songs once and I had no idea what I was writing until a year later. Yeah exactly. Which just happens. What else are we doing? I can't work. Well you know there's this one song in yours that I mean I think it's it just makes me emotional every single time I hear it and it's the and it's still alright. I just love this song. Well it's also a song for Richard in the process of making that record. Yeah. I didn't really have that you know I didn't have a title didn't have anything and we actually went back to National Freedom His Studio and I went with Patrick Meese who played drums and Patrick was the only other person I played music with that I brought to the first session with Richard and then once Richard figured out that Pac could also do pro tools and play drums and other stuff then he was just like why don't you go do that bad you know like me go do this so yeah he utilized it like Richard's best approach to everything was was true laziness honestly you know what I mean like sometimes like that's good that's good but it was really like to just go back into National Freedom you know Richard burns so much Palo Santo like the place smells a certain way it sounds a certain way and like you know even when I listened to like a Damian Gerardo record or other people that Richard had produced and did in that studio like you can hear the sound of the room you can hear you can hear I hear what the floor sounds like it's a character in the record. It's very familiar yeah it's a character in its own Is it still there? It is yeah okay and it's still being used I've popped in since a couple of times and there's just like a there's a spirit in the place for sure you know yeah I don't know if it's Richard's but it like maybe just all the music that was made there still lives in that room so those kinds of places are really special yeah absolutely yeah so I might cry at this one I actually I wrote this one morning this is like a song I kind of started in a hotel room before Richard's memorial and I feel like it is like the observation of yeah like humanity human experience is difficult but it's always going to be okay you know I think that's why it makes me cry because it's so emotional and so relatable you know and simple it is which is the best that's the best kind of song I love it it's like a it's a my interpretation of a John Prine song just a couple of chords it's all you yeah all right you ready you ain't all right the hardness of my head now close your eyes spin around say hard times what you could find that it ain't the way that you want but it's still all right oh now counting all the lines it's so funny now say times are hard you get this far but it ain't the way that you want oh I'll be damned if this old man don't start counting his losses but it's still all right oh see you learn a lot out there how to scorch and burn gonna have to bury your friends then you'll find it gets worse standing out all this with no way to get down you start praying for wings to grow I'll baby just let go you ain't all right keep spinning out of the head oh and there was cold outside when I hit the ground saying I could sleep here forget all the fear maybe it would take time to grow but maybe I don't know now hey tonight think about it oh remember and all the times you pointed out say glass is clear but all this fear starts leaving the mark idle hands the world it stands from your time in the dark oh but it's still all right so pretty even the no tears you made it through that I made it through but that's a beautiful song thank you it just that's just one of those songs thank you you hear it once and it's just like whoa kind of sticks on you yeah yeah I feel like songs sometimes you just like they come out of nowhere and they feel like a blessing those are definitely the best ones yeah my favorite kind of song writing when it just happens I know I love it I love it when did you start writing songs were you little bitty yeah I would have been a teenager yeah I first started playing drums I got my first drum kit when I was seven oh cool my mom and dad played music in church um and like sort of a christian non-denominational kind of thing that was like kind of but kind of radical too you know in terms of like um yeah and my dad like in the 70s was prayed for and healed of cancer or kitsamphoma and pancreatitis wow and so we kind of went from church to church and my dad would give his testimony and my mom and him also wrote religious songs together but um but also like you know my mom was like a big james taylor jim crocey cordon lightfoot yeah that was kind of like what was in the house a lot my dad played harmonica and sang harmony and what did she play she played um 12 string whoa you know the whole string guitar uh was always her instrument of choice well that's a hard choice to me yeah um but you know I remember like uh yeah when my uncle got her her first like martin and it's crazy because my parents are so young like I remember my mom turning 29 that's crazy um yeah it was crazy to be kids having kids um but so we you know we spent a lot of time in church uh and singing so did they get your drum kit so you could complete the band I think I just wanted to play drums um and then when I was probably 11 or 12 I got interested in guitar okay but then it really took me a while to like really find my way around it I think like my dad passed away when I was about 13 and that's when I kind of got into playing guitar oh wow and my mom taught me a couple of chords and then immediately I just wouldn't like make up songs but that's that's great but I was also like like in my younger years like they would make me sing harmony in church and I I was like so afraid of singing really yeah I just I yeah I was very not confident very shy about it yeah just like a scared little chubby kid you know oh were you an only child I have an older sister who's two years older and then I have a a half brother that is 20 years younger than me okay got it but yeah so my sister was bossy and trying to tell me what to do all day that's probably where you're self conscious uh-huh I know but then I was also like a you know I I would hum and didn't know people could hear it so I was definitely put in special classes at one point because they thought I was a special needs kid and I probably was but luckily it was before the era of medication and I missed out on all that free speed you know yeah oh my god which I could only imagine would have really messed me up but that's a whole other trajectory but yeah I don't yeah so like guitar it was just that I never really wanted to be a songwriter I'd like but yeah you loved Hendrix and Greg Allman and and yeah I just kind of wrote like some songs would be like making fun of my sister yeah just anything you know yeah like some of it would be goofy and then it became like love songs pretty quick because I did not know how to like yeah it was pretty lonely and and and never really knew if people liked me or not so I would just be like there's no way that's ever gonna happen I just want to hug you yeah and then it'd be like I think you'd write a song about it but isn't that kind of what all songs yeah and it started that way and I'm kind of still the same really yeah yeah it's like more intense so yeah wow that's really all okay it's at all same like too because I'm not really depressed I just hope it doesn't seem like too much of a downer you know no it's really I think it's really special when people share I think what you're sharing is really pretty deep okay and I'm not depressed by hearing it okay at all and I thank you for sharing it all because I think you know if you feel comfortable sharing that's the real stuff that's what people can relate to is the real thing and I think it's very helpful it's helpful for me right now yeah yeah good yeah it's beautiful um we still got two more yeah yeah do you want to uh do you want to do Mavis in south of here or yeah I love those okay let's do Mavis we'll end this south of here yeah I love this song so you know we both are friends with Mavis I think the last time I saw you was with Mavis's birthday was for Mavis's birthday um since then I've even like we Mavis and I have like our friendship has grown you know and it's been like years of like every time I see her uh you know and she calls me Montana which I've learned means motherfucker did you know that I did not yeah the Spencer Spencer Tweedy told me that he was like oh that means motherfucker and he's like they weren't you know like staples weren't allowed to curse so so she's kind of like man you're a motherfucker is like her being like oh Montana that's so cute you know and and I just I like I cherish every moment that I get with her and and I just I honestly just like I feel like that makes me want to cry I know she's the best like I feel like people should have so much reverence for her you know yeah um and I just like anytime around her want to like her to be uplifted to like the beauty and like I just want people to see that because the amount of influence that she's had and like I know HBO did a documentary on her but it like it just it doesn't tell the story that you get from Mavis when she's telling you stories you know and I was like wow I wish there was like I could hear more of that and and the beauty in that and like just how much her and her family has had an impact on modern music you know um sorry I can't get to oh I don't have I'm an old man you know I thought it was gross my dad always had one but it's really convenient yeah well that's great sorry I got old yeah but all right you in other words in other words I would be with you in other nights in other nights I think I've seen you so caught on the way caught on the way I do not own you and you relax knowing the way I do I do it for you know what I've seen through I do it for you oh yeah oh in other times said your feet would move so fast you couldn't see me gone all the days when you could start it and now run me and all the lights and all the lights you said here you now I recall a time you and I know this time you bet your teeth was always just a smile to me哎 I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 I couldn't remember how to end it the right way. So that's the end. That was great. Yeah, because it's all the time, baby. I recall the time. Oh, yeah. Oh, it goes up. I recall the time. You were mine. All the time you've been to your teeth. I was always just a smile to me. That works. I feel like that song, I think I call it Mavis because it kind of made me feel like going to church with all the vocals. And when I first toured that record, it was like a solo record with a ten piece band. Oh my God. But it was a bummer, we only got to do that record because it came out on February 14th of 2020. We played ten shows and then we actually got to New York. And we were already starting to get messages from people on social media. I can't believe you guys. I can't come. It doesn't feel safe. But nobody knew what was happening. Nobody really knew. Yeah, it was just such, you pour your heart into something and it means so much. And I know this happens all the time. And it happened to a lot of people who put out records at the same time. But luckily I feel like those records became the soundtrack to their pandemic. Yeah, especially that record. It had such an intimate feel. I look forward to making another record like that. I don't know if that's what I'll do next. Follow whatever path that you get pulled on. Take it as it comes. I feel like for my, I've been really fortunate in my career and I always just kind of did what felt best. And there's been a couple of detours where I feel like I just didn't know any better. That reassures that you should have just stuck to your gut. That your initial feeling is generally the one to go with. Your initial gut instinct is like, if you feel that, don't question that. And I want younger artists to know that. Just be like, if you feel something, don't be misled by what someone's trying to tell you how your career could go. Because there's no guarantee of any of that. It's true. You don't want to do anything you regret. Exactly. Even if it's just a bad song. Especially if it's a bad song. But I certainly throughout my career, earlier for sure, songs that management label would be like, oh, this song could be your radio. I was like, I don't want to push that. And I probably shot myself in the foot. But I think it would have been like, pantering to a trend at the time. And yeah, it might have elevated my career too. But I feel like it's still just been like a slow incline. I haven't got to the decline. I don't feel like you're doing good. We haven't plateaued yet, which is kind of amazing. It's been 10 years of the night sweats. This August will be 10 years. And you just played the garden. We just played the garden. Heck yeah. And it was like, you know, it was, oh, I mean, it was my mom's first time to New York. It was, I mean, it's garden. It's like the most famous arena in the world. Yeah. Like, that's pretty fun. Yeah, it was cool. You know, and we'd just done Fallon. And honestly, Jimmy like helped launch our career in such a way I don't think anybody knew was going to happen. I certainly was like sitting in meetings after that where people are like, well, TV doesn't sell records, but. But that performance did. And I think, you know, like he had us on and, you know, I feel like we'd tried to do late night earlier on in my career. And other than Jules Holland hadn't had like any, any no break, nothing in the States. And so Jimmy had a song because he just loved the song so be and. And that was really like in the process of Richard that was like a throw away. And Richard, like it was the last song we did when we when we were worked together for the first record, he was like, OK, so. Label loves the song. Like, uh-huh. Management loves songs. Like, yeah, he's like. When you play it for people, they freak out. I was like, yeah, he's like, OK, well. We should probably do it. It's just funny what what like people latch on to, you know, and then I struggled with for a long time is like. Or is my legacy going to be this song, you know, you know, but at some point it doesn't really matter because it's like giving me the ability to do everything else that I want to do. And I'm still able to create music and write from a place of honesty. Yeah. All right. So we do you want to take us out on a song? Let's. Yeah. So this is south of here. Yeah. From your newer record. Yep. I like this one. OK, right on. Ready? One, two, three, four. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. I loved it. Yeah. Thank you so much for doing this. It's been so fun. We never really get to play together. I know. I like it. Just in a chorus on a birthday somewhere. I know. Yeah, it was really special. It was the first time I was playing with you and singing with you in this way. So it's really nice. Thanks for doing it. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you for having me. I hope to see you again soon. Now we did it. Now we can just be friends now. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Thanks for listening. This episode was super fun for us and I wanted to tell you about the songs we played. This time we started with a cover and the first song we did was the great Link Ray song from his self titled album, which was released in 1971. The song is called Fallen Rain, one of my faves. The second song we played was Get Used to the Night by Nathanael Rateliff in the Night Sweats from his album South of Here, which was released in 2024. The fourth song we did was, and it's still all right. Such a classic. I love this song. Nathaniel Rateliff from the album, and it's still all right. 2020, that was released. The fourth song we played was called Mavis, also from that same album, and it's still all right, released in 2020. Fifth song we played, wow, we did a lot of songs, called South of Here by Nathaniel Rateliff in the Night Sweats album, South of Here, released 2024. Thanks to Nathanael Rateliff for joining us today, and we'll be back next week with Bridget Everett. Nora Jones' Playing Along is a production of I Heart podcasts. I'm your host, Nora Jones. Visit Nora Jones' channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. This episode was recorded by Matt Maranelli, mixed by Jamie Landry, audio post production and mastering by Greg Tobler, artwork by Eliza Frye, photography by Shervin Lenez, produced by Nora Jones and Sarah Oda. Executive producers Aaron Wong-Coffman and Jordan Rintog, marketing lead Queen Anaki. Toodles! This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.