Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
- I was in the Deadstring Brothers as a touring member and really learned how to play guitar from Kurt Marschke. I've learned about lyrics and story songs more from folk singers though, like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Bob Dylan. I've never met any of them, even though I feel like I have. Producing wise - I met Jay Bennet as a young man and didn't understand most of what he did but I feel like I'm starting to 15 years later.
What’s the story behind your album’s title?
- Songs for Nobody is a sarcastic title from a lyric in a song about playing shows for less than full venues and bars, the type of places where you are playing with a football game on and you can't tell if they are clapping for you or for their home team. Then sleeping in the van after the gig and waking up looking like a truck stop bathroom in Oklahoma.
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
- I write all the time, I make notes when I have an idea or a lyric or a melody, then when I finally get time to sit down with an instrument, hopefully, I have some good ideas to build on. I write a lot of stories about my friends and people I meet traveling. I do a lot of writing when I'm alone in hotel rooms or in my van or backstage if I'm fortunate enough to have one. Sometimes I take an experience and just run away with the fantasy of and romanticize it. It's also hard to fit a whole story or idea into a 4-minute song so sometimes it's easiest to only tell small stories about feelings instead of complete storylines. It really depends on the space and the music and the topic. I love when I struggle in the beginning and then it starts to take its own form and life, then it becomes more like steering a ship instead of making one from the beginning.
What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
- "Good musicians don't ever fail in the industry they just give up." Also something along the lines of, "If you want a career in music, don't have a backup plan because there will always be other things you can do for more money and you will run out of time for music."
Do you have any touring tips?
- When you inevitably lose your phone charger walk into the nearest motel and ask them if they have a charger that got left behind because you stayed there a few days prior. They will pull out a box of chargers, look intently for the one you want and say, "Yes that's it!" then grab it. Did I mention it doesn't matter if you ever stayed there before?
What has been your biggest struggle so far?
- Staying mentally and physically healthy. I have been traveling for so many years that I've had to make lots of adjustments as I get older, mostly in what I consume and how much sleep I need. It gets dangerous when you have friends in different cities that want to party every night.
What’s your favorite venue and why?
- Westport Saloon in Kansas City because the audience is always drunk and fun but respectable. It pretty much in the middle of the US and I've found myself playing there sometimes 4 times a year, sometimes twice on the same tour and it has a bunk room. Travis the owner is like a brother who could and would beat me up if I needed it but he always just seems to forgive me instead.
Do you have a favorite gift from a fan?
- I received a beautiful iron keychain from a blacksmith in Latvia at my last show there. The guys who gave it to me e gave a speech I did not understand then hugged and kissed me on the cheek. Then the venue gave me a bouquet. The translator later told me that he said, "My mother said if you want to remember an event you pull out your handkerchief and tie a knot in it so I made you this iron knot to give you to remember this evening." I carry it everywhere with me and it jangles when I run and I won't ever forget the town of 20 people on the baltic sea whose name I can't spell or pronounce.
Name a recent release you cannot stop listening to?
- Daniel Romano's Finally Free
- I was in the Deadstring Brothers as a touring member and really learned how to play guitar from Kurt Marschke. I've learned about lyrics and story songs more from folk singers though, like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Bob Dylan. I've never met any of them, even though I feel like I have. Producing wise - I met Jay Bennet as a young man and didn't understand most of what he did but I feel like I'm starting to 15 years later.
What’s the story behind your album’s title?
- Songs for Nobody is a sarcastic title from a lyric in a song about playing shows for less than full venues and bars, the type of places where you are playing with a football game on and you can't tell if they are clapping for you or for their home team. Then sleeping in the van after the gig and waking up looking like a truck stop bathroom in Oklahoma.
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
- I write all the time, I make notes when I have an idea or a lyric or a melody, then when I finally get time to sit down with an instrument, hopefully, I have some good ideas to build on. I write a lot of stories about my friends and people I meet traveling. I do a lot of writing when I'm alone in hotel rooms or in my van or backstage if I'm fortunate enough to have one. Sometimes I take an experience and just run away with the fantasy of and romanticize it. It's also hard to fit a whole story or idea into a 4-minute song so sometimes it's easiest to only tell small stories about feelings instead of complete storylines. It really depends on the space and the music and the topic. I love when I struggle in the beginning and then it starts to take its own form and life, then it becomes more like steering a ship instead of making one from the beginning.
What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
- "Good musicians don't ever fail in the industry they just give up." Also something along the lines of, "If you want a career in music, don't have a backup plan because there will always be other things you can do for more money and you will run out of time for music."
Do you have any touring tips?
- When you inevitably lose your phone charger walk into the nearest motel and ask them if they have a charger that got left behind because you stayed there a few days prior. They will pull out a box of chargers, look intently for the one you want and say, "Yes that's it!" then grab it. Did I mention it doesn't matter if you ever stayed there before?
What has been your biggest struggle so far?
- Staying mentally and physically healthy. I have been traveling for so many years that I've had to make lots of adjustments as I get older, mostly in what I consume and how much sleep I need. It gets dangerous when you have friends in different cities that want to party every night.
What’s your favorite venue and why?
- Westport Saloon in Kansas City because the audience is always drunk and fun but respectable. It pretty much in the middle of the US and I've found myself playing there sometimes 4 times a year, sometimes twice on the same tour and it has a bunk room. Travis the owner is like a brother who could and would beat me up if I needed it but he always just seems to forgive me instead.
Do you have a favorite gift from a fan?
- I received a beautiful iron keychain from a blacksmith in Latvia at my last show there. The guys who gave it to me e gave a speech I did not understand then hugged and kissed me on the cheek. Then the venue gave me a bouquet. The translator later told me that he said, "My mother said if you want to remember an event you pull out your handkerchief and tie a knot in it so I made you this iron knot to give you to remember this evening." I carry it everywhere with me and it jangles when I run and I won't ever forget the town of 20 people on the baltic sea whose name I can't spell or pronounce.
Name a recent release you cannot stop listening to?
- Daniel Romano's Finally Free
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Nathan Kalish has spent the past decade averaging 200 shows a year at bars and honky-tonks across the US and Europe. It's from this experience he cultivated his new collection of story songs for his 10th album, the self-produced Songs for Nobody due out April 10th. His sound has been described as a "unique brew of Americana, rockabilly and outlaw country." Through his cutting and intimate lyrics, he transports listeners from the passenger seat of his touring van to behind a magnifying glass aimed at the darker side of American culture. It's not only his experiences that he shares, but the experiences of the people that he has met along the way.
The music he's released has landed him on stages with Lucinda Williams, Molly Tuttle, and Lucero. He's earned accolades from Rolling Stone Country, Saving Country Music, Wide Open Country, Ditty TV, Glide and dozens of alt-weeklies. Kalish has lived the life of a curious wanderer, taking his music from town to town, creating a catalog of songs that act as colorful snapshots, like polaroids in a photo album. His music has been compared to American icons like Merle Haggard, John Prine, Gram Parsons, and the Sun Records’ rockabilly roster, circa 1956.
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'Songs For Nobody' |
