Powerful folk rock / Indie – Denver, Colorado
A true American “folk” singer/songwriter, affirming his resilience through revealing his inner self, with a voice so confident that you can occasionally imagine the music dropping out entirely, Nathaniel Rateliff grew up the son of devout Southern churchgoers with whom the family often sang together. His youth in rural Missouri was quiet and rambling. He built skateboard ramps, explored caves, slept outdoors in the heat. “I loved growing up there,” he says. “It’s beautiful. There’s something really nice about there not being much to do; it really helped me be a creative person.” After his father passed away, when Rateliff was only 13, he picked up the guitar and started penning his own songs. At eighteen he relocated to Denver, where he took a job with a trucking company, working on the dock and in the yard. The money was good, but health issues made him decide to take time off from the job. It was a period of rest and recovery, but also one of artistic growth and fresh challenges in which he began writing quieter, more introspective and patient songs; and subsequently developing a dedicated following within the Denver music community and beyond:: Spin magazine: “a massive, alluring voice …. Billboard: the unsigned singer-songwriter that’s a ‘must hear’…. The New York Times: “stark, eloquent Johnny Cash echoes”…. New York Magazine: “an artist everyone should be listening to”. Live, and on his most recent album, In Memory of Loss (2010), he is joined by Joseph Pope (guitar, harmonica and vocals), and Julie Davis (bass and vocals).