Nathaniel Rateliff offered fans another glimpse of his forthcoming Red Rocks 2020 release with a video of “All Or Nothing”, shared on Friday. The live rendition of the And It’s Still Alright track was recorded at the Morrison, CO venue on September 20th, 2020.
With support from members of his longtime backing band The Night Sweats—who he reconvened with post-pandemic after his 2019/2020 solo stint—the singer-songwriter eeks out a tender rendition of his acoustic musing. Alongside a string section, the surplus of musicians is able to create an exceptionally delicate atmosphere in spite of their strength in numbers.
The clip comes from Rateliff’s final night of a six-show run at Red Rocks, with the first five shows featuring a heavily truncated audience of 175 people. For the last show, however, Rateliff opted to play for an empty amphitheater, with the effect of the then-still-raging pandemic visible in every empty seat.
Out on July 16th via Stax Records, the 18-track Red Rocks 2020 live release also features guest appearances by Kevin Morby and Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), the former of whom joined Rateliff on a cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “There Is A War”. In addition to his Night Sweats bandmates Joseph Pope III (bass), Mark Shusterman (keyboards), Patrick Meese (drums), and Luke Mossman (guitar), Rateliff shared the stage with James Barone (guitar) and a string section composed of Joy Adams (cello), Rachel Sliker (viola), Adrienne Short (violin), and Chris Jusell (violin).
Nathaniel Rateliff said of Red Rocks 2020 in a press release,
We started out 2020 very excited. The solo record [And It’s Still Alright] was out and me and most of the guys in the Night Sweats were going hit the road to present the songs to the world. We were looking forward to performing the songs together with a string quartet and how it was going to make us [a] better band. We had some of our favorite songwriters and friends hitting the road with us. With a grand finale at Red Rocks with Kevin Morby and Damien Jurado. Then the world came to stand still.
The songs on And It’s Still Alright are about finding hope in times of struggles, and now it seemed the whole world was struggling. So, few months into the pandemic we started to wonder if there was a way to bring the show we worked so hard on to everyone. If you can’t find a light you have to create one. Somehow, we were able to play 6 nights at Red Rocks with the full 10-piece band and the production we had created for the show. Kevin Morby and Katie Crutchfield drove out from Missouri to join us. Five of the night had 175 people and one night we filmed to an empty amphitheater that normally holds 10.000 people. It was beautiful to be there, even if it was 175 people. But the night we recorded this record it was heart breaking. It was a realization that our world had changed and maybe forever. Needless to say, it was a hard night to make it through. But we did it and now we are bringing it to you.
Watch Nathaniel Rateliff perform “All Or Nothing” at Red Rocks. Red Rocks 2020 is available here for pre-order.
Nathaniel Rateliff – “All Or Nothing” – Morrison, CO – 9/20/20
[Video: Nathaniel Rateliff]
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