Nathaniel Rateliff’s Music Is Helping America Get Through the Night Sweats

Take your pick of any number of articles about Nathaniel Rateliff over the past few months, and they’ll all tell you some version of how he’s hit his stride in the retro music renaissance, and how he hasn’t stopped going up, up, up since he and his band The Night Sweats made their The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debut this month last year. Both of those things are true – Rateliff’s music is foot-stomping and soulful, and his is a classic “toiling musician makes it overnight” story. But what doesn’t necessarily come across in these pieces is why he is suddenly America’s sweetheart.

“You’re always kind of humbled and blown away by the audiences surrounding you,” he says. “But I guess at some point, we have to start to realize that this is what we’re doing, you know? People are going to come and [we can’t] be so shocked all the time.”

It’s not just the popular “retro look” that draws the crowds – though the denim, plaid, leather boot and fedora-clad ensemble certainly has that – people are connecting to Rateliff and his crew because they sound like…America. Like home. Musically, it’s country mixed with James Brown; it’s bluegrass with The Rolling Stones and Elvis’s “Suspicious Minds.” Lyrically, it’s the expression of genuine experiences wrapped up in classic themes that makes the songs so appealing.

“Howling at Nothing,” from the band’s 2015 self-titled breakout album, is a perfect example. It’s about holding tight and living through the sadness, and even the anger.

“So, let me in or let me down/Let me lay here so slow/Baby just keep holding got to move our feet/Cause you know it ain’t end,” croons the singer-songwriter and guitarist. It’s the kind of tune that would be playing on a car stereo in the background of a scene in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

And Rateliff himself seems genuine, like the real deal, despite doing the industry dance and living life on the road for the past year. He’s audibly exhausted over the phone, but still manages to smile across the line. He says “after years of struggling to get people to pay attention,” having a Billboard No. 1 with “S.O.B.” and playing some of the biggest venues around the world certainly caused some whiplash, but the new reality is taking over.

“You’re always kind of humbled and blown away by the audiences surrounding you,” he says. “But I guess at some point, we have to start to realize that this is what we’re doing, you know? People are going to come and [we can’t] be so shocked all the time.”

Clearly, Rateliff’s music nostalgically recalls the “America” that a lot of people are missing right now, but it doesn’t lack some sick, hard riffs that also say, “Hey, wake up, it’s 2016.”

Born and raised in Missouri, 37-year-old Rateliff originally learned to play and sing in his church, and has worked a variety of blue-collar jobs over the years. So while he’s understandably excited to be able to do things like invest in a restaurant with friends in the Denver music scene, and to be playing a sold-out show at Red Rocks, he’s still grounded in the issues affecting us as a nation. During an emotional moment at Wolf Trap this past spring, Rateliff got choked up about the potential he saw for working Americans with Bernie Sanders as a presidential candidate.

“That was the first time I ever donated money to a campaign. And, I don’t know, I was just really hoping that somebody was gonna come along and really care about the working people, not just in the United States, but in the world and you know, be an American leader.”

Rateliff and his band will return to Northern Virginia in September to play at Farm Aid, a benefit concert first organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp in 1985, at Jiffy Lube Live. Farm Aid raises awareness about the loss of family farms and the funds to keep them running – another cause close to Rateliff’s heart. Though he grew up in the Midwest where Future Farmers of America is huge, the musician says he didn’t always comprehend the full impact of the organization.

“But [now I understand] it’s important, and we want to be a part of it to remind people of the community that family farms are the most important part of where our food comes from. It’s kind of nice to have this movement, the farm-to-table thing, but on a larger scale I think just even farming practices need to change. We need to take that out of the hands of corporations and put it back into the hands of families.”

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats will be at the Farm Aid music festival on September 17 in Bristow, Va. Tickets run $49.50-$189.50, and the lineup includes Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Alabama Shakes and Sturgill Simpson.

Farm Aid at Jiffy Lube Live: 7800 Cellar Door Dr. Bristow, VA; 703-754-6400;www.farmaid.org