A lifetime of drifting as a Christian missionary's son and touring musician positioned singer-songwriter Nathan Kalish to meet the types of colorful characters depicted throughout new album Songs for Nobody, out April 10.
Kalish makes us laugh to keep from crying with the title track and its music video, premiering today via Wide Open Country. Haunting meets hokum as Kalish portrays an over-the-top character who loves country music and rock 'n roll too much to stop spinning his wheels on the same dead-end road.
"This track is about spending a decade on the road and finding yourself too old to sleep in a minivan anymore, while a lot of your peers have moved on to more stable jobs," Kalish says. "It's about getting your ego destroyed night after night while eventually becoming a better version of yourself and learning to not take yourself too seriously at the same time."
Kalish literally poured blood, sweat and tears into his newest music video while sharing doses of the throwback songwriting and snarky humor that's drawn comparisons to Chuck Mead and John Prine.
"I actually bled when I broke the prop beer bottles over my head," Kalish adds. "I had to do it twice too! Fake blood plus real blood equals crazy eyes. Online where I bought it claimed it was safe. I think they are safeish, and I have tiny scars to prove it."
Kalish self-produced his 10th album Songs for Nobody at Nashville's Trace Horse Studio. His all-star Americana cast included guitarist Laur Joamets (Sturgill Simpson, Drivin n Cryin) and pedal steel guitarist Adam Kurtz (Great Peacock, American Aquarium, Chris Shiflett).
Songs for Nobody follows a couple of critically acclaimed albums: 2016's Continental Breakfast of Champions and 2018's I Want to Believe. Rolling Stone County described the latter as a "heartland rock and alt-country soundtrack to looking for UFOs in Roswell, New Mexico."
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