BIO

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats—South of Here

“He is one of these guys that will just carry the torch,” the legendary Robert Plant stated in a recent interview when asked “who is your favorite young artist?” Calling Nathaniel Rateliff ‘a leader of the next generation of greats,’ he continued, “Beautiful songwriting, beautiful singing, great delivery and he is a magnificent guy to go with it.” Plant is not alone. Rateliff’s collaborations with Paul Simon at Newport, Willie Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl and performing on-stage alongside Bob Weir and the late, great John Prine are just a few examples that underscore Plant’s sentiment.

Fast forward to 2024.

South of Here, Rateliff and The Night Sweats’ fourth full-length album—produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby) and recorded at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso, TX—reckons with a lifetime of pain and trauma and transforms it into a stirring, soul-baring rumination on love, loss, hope and resolve. Following And It’s Still Alright, Rateliff’s beloved 2020 solo LP, and The Future, The Night Sweats’ acclaimed 2021 release, the new album (with help and insistence from Cook), seamlessly blends both sides of his immense talent: emotionally potent, vivid storytelling and the rugged, R&B revivalism that has powered the band to world-wide acclaim over the past decade.

Rateliff’s songs have always come from a place of deep honesty, however through this recording process he found he was incorporating more of his own personal story than ever before. “Brad was a great producer to write alongside,” Rateliff noted. “This album is a look into my own struggle with anxiety, insecurity and also stories of my life. He encouraged me to take responsibility for my own narrative in the songs and to write about what’s happening in my life. These recordings were done together in a room with my closest friends. I hope these songs and stories give people an opportunity to better understand their own struggles, whatever they may be.”

South of Here’s 11 original tracks were all written by Rateliff and performed by The Night Sweats: Nathaniel Rateliff (vocals, guitar), Luke Mossman (guitar), Joseph Pope III (bass), Mark Shusterman, (Hammond B3, piano), Patrick Meese (drums, piano), Daniel Hardaway (trumpet), Jeff Dazey (tenor sax), and Andreas Wild (baritone sax). The band, in peak form, fill these songs with intuitive beauty while Cook’s production captures their soulful fire with immediacy and purpose.

However, before the band’s leader could focus on making a new album, he had to steady himself. Rateliff recalls struggling with an unusual level of anxiety for months. “I was not in a great headspace,” he says. “I was neurotic about imperfection. Any detail that was off was a real distraction for me. All of that was keeping my mind in this constant state of negativity.” In January 2023, he headed to North Carolina to work with Cook in his studio. Through the ten days they spent together, Rateliff and Cook broke through, finding a rhythm and leaving with a handful of songs written.

Pushing through the fraught energy, on songs like “David and Goliath,” “Heartless,” “Get Used to the Night,” and “South of Here,” Rateliff reaches across damaged connections with unflinching honesty; others like “Remember I Was a Dancer,” “The Center of Me,” “Everybody Wants Something,” and “Time Makes Fools of Us All,” offer cinematic portrayals of self-doubt and innocence lost. Bound by the struggle for identity and the search for belonging, South of Here reverberates with the understanding that we’re all in this beautiful mess together.

The driving “Heartless” refers back to the time years ago when he and Night Sweats bassist Joseph Pope III left their Missouri hometown and settled out west. “My childhood left me so broken that I didn’t know/We were coming out even,” Rateliff sings, recalling the hardships that pushed him forward.

“For whatever reason, that autobiographical stuff was coming up,” Rateliff says. “There are things in ‘Heartless’ that relate to Joseph because we were going through the same things at that point in our lives, even if I wasn’t intentionally writing about them.”

The title track “South of Here,” ponders the possibility of survival and reinvention. It was one of the last songs Rateliff penned for the album and summed up much of what he’d been feeling. “So much has changed in my life and for us as a band, and I’m grateful for it,” he says. “At the start of my career, it felt like the bottom was going to drop out and now, for the moment anyway, it seems to be sustainable. But when things become too much for me, I think about disappearing and just never getting onstage again.”

Rateliff tunnels deeper into his own harmful patterns on the stripped-down “Center of Me.” “Why do I wait until this shit gets harder,” he sings, describing the isolation he feels when personal relationships break down. “Primarily it’s about my inability to communicate,” Rateliff says. “I tend to avoid conflict at all costs, which just causes a lot more conflict. The line that goes, ‘Alone in my head,’ I feel like that a lot of the time. It can spiral and create feelings of doubt and insecurity.”

Elsewhere on the album, Rateliff battles feelings of despondency in the deceptively cheery “Everybody Wants Something,” while on the Randy Newman-esque country soul tune “I Would Like to Heal,” he recounts the often overwhelming steps to recovery. “In my letting go, I find some space to grow,” he sings, clear-eyed and hopeful. In “Get Used to the Night,” Rateliff pays homage to his friend and collaborator Richard Swift, whose untimely death from complications of alcoholism was a painful wake-up call. “You run ahead and I’ll catch up to you/Still so much left for me to do,” he sings with tender resignation.

South of Here closes with “Time Makes Fools of Us All,” which further references the long journey he and Pope have been on together. “When disease came to steal you, I shaved my head and mourned,” he sings, recalling Pope’s battle with cancer. The message is: all good things come to an end and that ultimately, no one gets to stay on top forever. But there’s joy and meaning that realization.

It’s all led to this point. On the grand and commanding South of Here, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats harnessed the struggle and followed their NorthStar to create the most essential recording of their career. “I always try to put some bit of hope in there,” Rateliff says. “The world feels pretty bleak right now, but nobody needs me to say that. We have to continue to figure out a reason to make things better, regardless of how bleak things may be. Admitting those difficulties builds strength.”

Lyrics

David and Goliath

Can we get out of my head

I don’t know

Somebody let me go if I’m falling now

Every time I knew and ran

Set me on my feet as someone else

These negative thoughts feel crazy

But why should I even care

I want to be different NOW

I’m a square peg feeling round

Turn me around and then

Send me home

Baby I don’t even know

I don’t ….. and its fucking hell

& The old me is saying

Another round to kill

never time to heal

Thats how your story goes

I want it my way

Closing my eyes maybe

I’ll find a way out

The reckoning is wrecking me

And nothing I’ve found

Can keep me from spinning out

It tells me I’m on a run

Then I’m back in the shadows Hun

The sun can’t shine for me everyday

I’m out on the road again and all of the older heads keep calling me

Trying to be gracious

Heartless

How was I to ever know it could get so bad

run around heartless

Tried to make it to the coast when I moved out west

I ran around angry

I remember the flames in the grass how they dance in a line

As the fire swept across the prairie it was on to burn ours eyes

It was so cold leaving the comfort of my Missouri home

And my childhood left me so broken man that I didn’t know

We were coming out even

We’re coming out even

I don’t recall all things in the throes of the night

It never occurred to me it always just heard me

Don’t be appalled with the fall it didn’t hurt that bad

I’ve hit the ground harder

And I want to feel something honey

Hey I want to feel something good

If everythings leaving me wanting

Ah then damn baby then it should

Run around tender

Remember I Was A Dancer

The simple ways I never see

It always seems to drift from me

All the things that I’m… trying… to be

I just want to see some movement..

To take me a little out of here

Some kindness or maybe , maybe I just don’t care

I say umm umm, wouldn’t it be nice to see me getting somewhere

Mmm mmm, I ain’t growing at all

Mmm mmm, take me out and put me down in the moon light and tell me

Say Baby… could you pick me up and spin me around

Say Baby.. maybe I’ll remember how to smile

Say Baby… we can make it up as we go

Sometimes I start to feel like I’m breaking through

A new breath, a way to see

Is it humanly possible or even true

I’m just up against a wall and I want to be free

Well with untied hands well what could one be

I say mmm mmm, its a rhythm can lift you somewhere new

Mmm mmm, I want to feel the wave of change

Mmm Mmm, yeah lets go out and find it tonight

Say Baby… could you can pick me up and spin me around

Say Baby.. maybe I’ll remember how to smile

Say Baby… we can make it up as we go

Remember I was dancer

In a life that’s so long ago

I could try to put out the fire, once its gone man there’s only smoke

Remember I was dancer

Get Used to the Night

I used to get around

You found one way

One to get a round and one to get through

I’ll feel tonight like so many lost days

I used to stay at home and writhe in my bed

Wish I could retire

Are you still hard with

I used to do cartwheels to land on my head

I used to know it all

Now I can’t remember much man

Used to be a proud fucking fool

You run ahead and I’ll catch up man

Still so much left for me to do

Get used to the night

This ain’t your town

Going wrong down a one way

Ya I gotta hide myself from the storm

I don’t know how long I will

But you found someway

One to get around and one to get through

Used to do it all but I ain’t got the mind now

Just feel tied up and used

It could be said that I used to have something

I used to be you

Get used to the night

South of Here

In the corner is where I’ve been

As I wander up the road

See I’m lost but not abandoned

But its hard for one to know

I just find the wind and float

But if I can’t take it no more

Then I would have to move away

Maybe south of here they’d let us be

And I would have to just move on

And maybe go back home remember who I was

In the corners that I’ve been in

Seems I’ve found no other way

Be the only one left standing

When everyone else is home

Say you can’t hate

The work that you love

And if it breaks

How did you know

And do I hang in the balance

And I would have to move away

Maybe south of here they’d let us be

And I would have to just move on

And maybe go back home remember who I was

I wake and rub my head

Where Have I been…..

Where Have I been….

Where Have I been…..

Where Have I been….

Maybe south of here they’ll let us be

Everybody Wants Something

Breaking into the night

We were coming of age

We were just running around trying to be kids

Never want or need to be saved

We were waiting to fall and just drift away

I was looking for an answer I was trying to find a way

Was getting no where life was taking its time

I was staring out the window just wasting mine

And all I wanted was a peace and calm

And somewhere to land that I could call my own

I was looking for something I just don’t know how to see it

Wait is there ever time to figure it out

Everybody wants something they just don’t know how to say it

All alone even in a crowd and time wasn’t missed as it slipped away

Every night I was scared and proud

Sitting in a hotel trying to write a dream

I was trying to see the world for everything that it could be

Wait is there ever time to figure it out

Everybody wants something they just don’t know how to say it

Yeah there’s nothing but highways

And nothing but planes

I found myself sideways

Searching for answers and trying to make a change

Everybody wants

Everybody wants something

Center of Me

It’s at the center of me but still don’t see

Feel it moving around

Can I admit defeat or disbelief

Does it have to be now

Hey wait, why do I wait until this shit gets harder

Hey wait, my words are arriving now

So I wait, I wait until the shit gets harder

Alone in my head

Is it all I had is it all that’s left

I’m starting out empty again

I cradled my arms and rocked myself to sleep

It’ll be ten more years till I say what need

stuck in my mouth when I try to speak

and nothing comes out

Hey wait, why do I wait until this shit gets harder

Hey wait, my words are arriving now

So I wait, I wait until the shit gets harder

Alone in my head

Said maybe, I don’t want to sleep too long

Someone wake me, I don’t want to sleep too long

I’m just gonna close my eyes and try to play it cool

I’m tired of waiting

I’m tired of waiting on myself

I’m tired of waiting

I’m tired of waiting on myself

why do I wait until the shit gets harder

I’m tired of waiting

I’m tired of waiting on myself

why do I wait until the shit gets harder

I’m tired of waiting

I’m tired of waiting on myself

It’s the center of me but I still don’t see

But it’s moving around

Cars in the Desert

Remember we were driving through the night

Pretending we were lovers lost in sleep

I think you said that “most of the time I’m right”

Let go the wheel and maybe we’ll switch sides

Well you were crawling out to raise the dead

And the ghost of you never left

Tell me I’m a good man

Tell me I’m a good good man

I couldn’t find the light myself

It lead too falling down the stairs

And the stitches in my head and not a lesson learned back then

Well you were crawling into your own way

All the wounded you left downtown

I can taste your lips and not your name

It stains the corner of every page

Tell me I’m a good man

Tell me I’m a good good man

They said they hid you somewhere I didn’t know

I dug everywhere through the dust and the mud

I turned it all over until my spade and hands were broken

I remember we were lying in your bed

I could feel your feet against my feet

And the sweat the fled our skin

Ice you rubbed into my chest

And like a fire upon your sleeve

You’re gonna burn to put it out

And maybe someday when I can’t sing

I’ll go back to turning over ground

Tell me I’m a good man

Tell me I’m a good good man

I Would Like to Heal

I can taste the moonlight and I can taste the sun.

And when my day is done it’s still there on my tongue

I would like to heal it even if the time is slow

And in my letting go

I’ll find some space to grow

And if I can’t let go

Well would you let me know

I would like to stay forever in this pace and rhyme

You feel your wasting time

I’ve wasted shares of mine

In the round you only sing the line it comes after

Bend around you’re only in you’re only in your own way

Are you trouble by the weight you have

Is that the only way you learn

Every consequence is such a drag

This much is all that I’ve discerned

I can taste the morning sun and I can taste the moon

Its waning as it looms above us all

I would like to heal it even if it takes too long

And finding that I’m wrong is hard to see

And if it takes too long remind me to hold on

Every sense and feeling seems to loose in the light of day

The sun is on its way for me

In the round the only thing the light it comes after

Bend around you’re only in you’re only in your own way

And are you trouble by the weight you have

Is that the only way you learn

Every consequence is such a drag

This much is all that I’ve discerned

Can it be your only way around it

Is it me distracted laying down

Hey well look what you’ve found

You’re coming around

Call Me (Whatever You Like)

Well they told me they told me that you ain’t got friends

and I’m staring around the room and I’m the only one that’s left

It’s a wonder… It’s wonder you come out ahead

In a moment thought for sure I’d come out dead

Well I’ve already… I’ve already been through this

It’s a cold way to look at yourself and then just laugh

Well its high time, it’s time that you get bent

And I point in the direction where I think it will come to a head

Well you just call me whatever you like

And you can fold me until its right

I was gonna walk but I probably wouldn’t get there fast

Cause the wind could pick up and knock me on my ass

And they told me you know this too shall pass

So collect yourself and play your dying number man

Well you held it you held it in you or hands

But you let it slip and watch it all collapse

Well you just call me whatever you like

And if they stone me remember I tried…

When you run there’s no point no point in looking back

You don’t fall into the future and wind up in your past

Call me whatever you like

Just call me whatever you like

Cause I’m gonna keep pulling from the corners of my heart

And leave this cynical shit so far behind…

Time Makes Fools of Us All

In the storm we waited it out

To see if it would clear

But the weather was so hard back then

it stuck with us for years

And when your path seemed sure

with the windows rolled all the way down

you thought the world was yours

Time makes fools of us all and I’m feeling now

Then the snow shut the highway down

But we kept moving forward

And in the hours as it all played out

The sky would lift and clear

And all the weight that shouldered

And if the grass looks greener now

It’s just that winter is over

Time makes fools of us all and I’m feeling now

My hearts was broken for years

I was left with no way to thrive

The rooms were small and we all shared beds

But it kept us alive

And when disease came to steel you

I shaved my head and morned

And in the grief , tragedy and hardship

A baby child was born

But time will make fools of us all and I’m feeling now

Ya time makes fools of us all and I’m feeling now

I cried and prayed

I thought that love would save me

And in my darkest hour

There was no way out from myself

But time will make fools of us all and I’m feeling now

Time makes fools of us all and I’m feeling it now

Ya time makes fools of us all and I’m feeling now

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South Of Here

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South Of Here

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South Of Here