You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
A quick note that this episode contains explicit language and deals with some heavy subject matter,
including alcoholism and death.
Nathaniel Rateliff is a singer and songwriter from Colorado.
He's released four solo albums, and two with his band, The Night Sweats.
Those two Night Sweat albums were produced by Richard Swift, who passed away in 2018.
In a statement, his family said that he, quote,
suffered from alcohol addiction, and it's ultimately what took his life, end quote.
Nathaniel Rateliff's new solo album, And It's Still Alright,
was supposed to be produced by Richard Swift as well,
but Richard died before they could work together again.
In this episode, Nathaniel breaks down the title track,
which was inspired in part by his own complicated relationship with alcohol and by his friendship with Richard Swift.
I'll be damned if this old man don't start to count his losses.
But it's still all right.
I'm Nathaniel Radliff.
I was in a hotel room in Portland, Oregon.
I had just flown in, and I got in early,