With his rocky heart-baring soul, Nathaniel Rateliff has found himself one of the year’s most lauded artists. Tim Hughes finds out what makes him and his band the Night Sweats tick

For a hardened, no-nonsense working musician, Nathaniel Rateliff has had to make some adjustments to the hectic touring schedule he has recently landed himself.

“It is a lot of fun, but it’s a challenge,” says the former solo singer-songwriter, who is now conquering the world with his band The Night Sweats.

“It’s a challenge to figure out how to do it without straining my voice or damaging it. A lot less talking and a lot less drinking seems to do the trick.”

The soul-rocker seems to have found his niche, the result being the band’s eponymous debut album – a soul-baring work of heartfelt honesty out on legendary soul album Stax Records, and which he has taken on the road, with a show at the O2 Academy Oxford on Sunday – Valentine’s Day.

That meandering symphony of guitar, brass, Hammond organ and Nate’s raw vocals stand proudly in the tradition of the Memphis label’s soul greats, rather than his own folkie past.

It all makes for a funky, but nonetheless emotional, listen – with songs with titles like I’ve Been Failing and Wasted Time.

“These songs are about the struggles I’ve had in my life – drinking too much, that kind of stuff.

“And then the relationships we all have. I’m not a great communicator in my personal life, so it’s funny to be writing songs that say the things that I’m never very good at saying. It’s taken me a long time to figure that out.

“I’m trying to be a better communicator, but it’s horribly awkward, it’s awful, to tell somebody something you know is going to hurt their feelings.

“I’ve always been one to go, ‘oh, I’ll just eat this one, it’ll be okay’.”

While most purveyors of soul, let alone folk, seem to be fey young adults from privileged backgrounds, with a grand total of no experience of the bitter realities of life for most working people, Rateliff is different.

He left home when he left school, after his father died, leaving the small town of Herman, Missouri, where his only real future was working at the local plastic factory.

He worked as a high school janitor then followed some missionaries to Denver, escaping what he describes as “the Midwestern lifestyle of working and growing up too fast”.

When disenchantment set in, he got a job loading trucks, then became a gardener and got married.

He also found himself writing songs and performing at any bar that would have him.

“I got kind of a late start making music,” he says.

“About two years ago, I had written a bunch of songs, and then pretty quickly put together a band, of people I knew or who I was already playing with. Some of them have been playing with me for seven or eight years already and are on my records, or have been playing in my live band for years.”

They included Night Sweats guitarist Joseph Pope III, drummer Patrick Meese and keyboardist Mark Shusterman.

He admits his current soul tip is a departure though.

“This is a new thing. I had been in a blues and rock ’n’ roll band before, but never soul like this.

“I did grow up listening to that music though, and really loved it. I wanted to write it but it took me a long time to work out how to do it without it being cheesy. I had always been discouraged from writing it but then I wanted to get away from being the guy with the acoustic guitar for a while. There might be enough of that at this point.”

And it has been widely hailed as a modern classic. Is he surprised at the reception?

“Yes, kind of. I think I’ve been recording and putting out good stuff for a while now, and that’s not had this reaction.

“I think it’s almost frightening when people decide they like your music because it’s only a matter of time before they decide they don’t like it. I’m not pessimistic, I’m a realist. There are plenty of friends of mine who have had fame lately, and then it’s dropped off the second they’ve tried something new. Fans and critics can be a fickle bunch.”

So has he turned his back on solo recording?

“No, that’s not it,” he says. “There are things I want to do still, but it’s nice to take a break from it.

“I would hope that people will find that back catalogue, too, if this is the first they’ve heard of me. But I’ve already started working on the second Night Sweats album. There are a bunch of songs left over from the first album – we had 36 but just recorded 15 – so we could do those, and I have new songs too.

“We’re a band and getting better all the time, so I’m really interested to see what we come up with.”

SEE THEM
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats play the O2 Academy Oxford on Sunday. Tickets from ticketweb.co.uk