Nathaniel Rateliff and longtime friend Gregory Alan Isakov today share a new music video for their duet, “Flowers,” directed by Rateliff’s partner Taylor McFadden—watch the video here. The song is out now to glowing critical reception—listen/share here. The pair performed the duet on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last Monday, marking Isakov’s late-night television debut—watch the inspiriting performance here. The song lands in advance of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’ landmark headline show at Madison Square Garden on March 27, part of their milestone first-ever arena tour, with Isakov to support—tickets are available now here.
On the video, Rateliff shares, “The concept for the Flowers video came from my partner Taylor McFadden’s vision. She had heard the song in various forms over the years and was excited that Gregory and I were finally putting it out. We were in Santa Fe New Mexico listening to mixes and decided it would be a fun collaboration to create visuals for this song together. She brought in her producing partner Lavinia Jones Wright and their company I Play Different Productions to execute the idea. It was so inspirational to watch her work and create something beautiful together. Gregory is a great friend. The opportunity to work together, on both a song and video, was so special. On the day of the shoot there were many laughs and the room was filled with so much love.”
Isakov reflects, "There is a palpable joy working alongside Nathaniel. We’ve been such great friends for so long. Taylor's vision as a director is equally as impressive. They both have a real ease about them, which is always something you strive for as an artist.”
McFadden adds, "It was a natural progression collaborating on the "Flowers" music video with Nathaniel. I had heard numerous versions of the song that he and Greg had been working on over the years and was so excited they were finally going to release it to the public. The visual concept was to create a floral meadow that felt larger than life, accompanied by strong black and white silhouettes to emphasize Nathaniel and Greg's powerful vocals, generating a magical otherworldly feeling for the song." The video was produced by Lavinia Jones Wright from For I Play Different Productions—see full video credits below.
Rateliff and Isakov have known each other since the early days of their careers, rising through the local Denver-Boulder area music scene together. The pair initially crafted “Flowers” as a demo around Rateliff’s 2020 solo album And It’s Still Alright; however, the song remained unfinished for five years before the two revisited it recently.
The track was mixed and mastered with help from Patrick Meese, Mark Anderson and David Wilton.
Around the band’s recent Los Angeles show at Kia Forum, Rateliff & The Night Sweats held an initiative to help raise wildfire recovery funds for the Los Angeles area alongside supporting acts Waxahatchee and Iron And Wine. The bands donated VIP passes, a meet and greet experience and a signed Gibson guitar to 3 winners, with proceeds from the fundraising efforts going to the Musicares Fire Relief Fund. Donations can still be made to the fund here.
In addition, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, in partnership with Greater Good Music and Dream Center LA, purchased a mobile food pantry for those who lost their homes to the Los Angeles fires—truckloads of food, water and pet supplies are available on the streets of the city, with those living in hotels and shelters able to drive or walk up to receive meals.
Greater Good Music partners with music artists to give mobile food pantries to people in disaster zones—recent partnerships include Ringo Star and Def Leppard for those affected by the Los Angeles fires and Green Day, who donated emergency food to those affected by the Maui fires. Greater Good is currently feeding 1,200 people in Los Angeles weekly.
The second leg of the band’s first arena tour also saw stops at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun, and a slew of performances in Canada, including at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, with two nights in Boston at MGM Music Hall at Fenway remaining. The first leg of the arena tour saw electric performances at Red Rocks, Chicago’s United Center, and St. Paul’s Excel Center. Pioneer Press praised Rateliff’s “twangy voice exploding out of guitars and keyboards and horns into roaring, soaring choruses”—see more critical acclaim for the tour and full routing below.
The tour caps off another highlight year for the band, which saw two #1s: “Heartless” and “Call Me (Whatever You Like)” from their critically acclaimed fourth full-length studio album, South of Here, both topped the Adult Alternative Chart, marking their 7th and 8th #1s to date. The album is out now via Stax—listen here. See the band perform “Heartless” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert here and an excerpt from their special on the Howard Stern Show here.
Additionally, Rateliff has been appointed as Newport Folk Steward, the first artist to hold such a role at the legendary festival since Pete Seeger. The position holds a three-year term, which will see Rateliff serving as Steward actively for two years and advising the next recipient during a third transition year. Rateliff has chosen to devote his term to artist advocacy, fellowship and mentorship both at the Fort and beyond.
“FLOWERS” VIDEO CREDITS
Directed by: Taylor McFadden
Produced by: Lavinia Jones Wright
For I Play Different Productions
Director of Photography: Sam Tetro
1st Assistant Camera: Helena Grunsteidl
Gaffer: John Murphy
Key Grip: Eric Fulcher
Production Assistant: Carson McCoy
Art Direction & Florals by: Jordan McFadden | Highland Petals
Art Assistant: Justice McFadden
Stills Photographer: Devon Wycoff
Hair & Makeup: Crystal Nardico
Edited by: Lucy Munger
Color by: Company 3
Colorist: Jaime O’Bradovich
Color Producer: Nick Krasnic
Title Design by: Maxwell George
SOUTH OF HERE TOUR—NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS
February 13—Vancouver, BC—Rogers Arena*
February 15—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena*
February 16—Portland, OR—Moda Center*
February 18—Reno, NV—Grand Sierra Resort±
February 21—Los Angeles, CA—Kia Forum± #
February 22—San Francisco, CA—Bill Graham Civic Auditorium±
March 11—Edmonton, AB—Rogers Place~
March 13—Calgary, AB—Scotiabank Saddledome~
March 15—Winnipeg, MB—Canada Life Centre~
March 18—Fishers, IN—Fishers Event Center~
March 19—Pittsburgh, PA—Petersen Events Center~
March 21—Toronto, ON—Scotiabank Arena~
March 22—Ottawa, ON—Canadian Tire Centre~
March 23—Uncasville, CT—Mohegan Sun~
March 27—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden+
March 28—Boston, MA—MGM Music Hall at Fenway
March 29—Boston, MA—MGM Music Hall at Fenway
+with support from Gregory Alan Isakov
*with support from Charley Crockett
±with support from Iron & Wine
#with support from Waxahatchee
~with support from The Teskey Brothers
