Nathaniel Rateliff is playing tonight at the Triple Door. For ten dollars. As we’ve said so many times before, do not miss this show. Period. Here’s why:
First off, Nathaniel’s latest release, In Memory of Loss (I know, right? Brilliant.) is nothing short of stunning. It’s packed with huge, ethereal vocals; sprinkled with a pinch of front-porch roots, and is held together with both hands and a haunted, achy undertone. Imagine a Fleet-Fox-gone-solo and injected in the mainline with heartache and tragedy, lungs turned up to eleven. Or an exhaustively forlorn Jim James with a cross-section of Chris Pureka.
It’s sad bastardesque, yes — but it’s not your run-of-the-mill, sad sack with an acoustic guitar kind of sound. Nathaniel Rateliff translates fully and is bursting at the seams with his truth, in a big room, with nothing holding him back. All the way down to his howling breaks and cracked-voice whispers.
Here’s a snippet of the recording session, a song called “Early Spring Till” — one of the standout tracks on the album:
[video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zE9BmdpKcQ]Second, the show is only ten dollars. Ten. (Ten!) And if you need more convincing to spend that hard-earned cash, you can get an earful over here: Nathaniel has a couple of sessions up on Daytrotter that just about ripped the covers off my computer speakers. And (yes, there’s more!) that’s not all — reasons number three and four to attend: local all-stars Pearly Gate Music open up the set, with Austin’s Battleme up as first of three. Done and done.
We’ll see you at the show!
{Tickets available at the Triple Door’s website, $10 / all ages / 5:30 doors / 7:30 show}