Pushkin.

Nathaniel Raitliffe was set up at NYC's Town Hall this past Thursday.

Ready to play another stop on a solo tour, when that show, like many right now, was canceled.

Instead of packing it in and heading back to the hotel, Nathaniel played to an empty theater,

and the show on Facebook.

Making do is a central thesis of his new release, and it's still all right.

Nathaniel has good reason to be optimistic too.

Despite some setbacks, he's been on a roll the last few years.

With his band The Night Sweats, he's been a standout at nearly every festival,

created his own line of cannabis with Willie Nelson called The Night Stash,

and this summer, if all's normal again, he's supposed to be torn with Bob Dylan.

His new album is a real departure from what he's become known for though.

It's his first release without his band The Night Sweats in seven years,

and it sounds much closer to the music he started making more than 20 years ago.

More introspective and foaky.

In this chat with Bruce Hadlam, Nathaniel traces his musical lineage from his parents,

who only allowed Christian music at home to his work with Night Sweats producer and brilliant musician Richard Swift.

Swift died from complications of alcoholism in 2018,

and a lot of Nathaniel's new songs are dedicated to him.

These songs are his way of making sense of his friend's death,

of letting himself and his audience know that despite the sadness, it's still all right.

This is Broken Record, line of notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Richmond.

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