After plying his trade as a folk-rock merchant under the Nathaniel Rateliff & the Wheel banner, this Missouri-born musician decided to turn his hand to rhythm & blues.
It’s easy to see why Rateliff and his band are signed to the legendary Stax label in the USA; this is authentic, soulful music with melodies that’d make Wilson Pickett swoon, heart-swelling harmonies, brass-infused joints and handclaps and foot stomps aplenty.
Played live, there is a rich, slouchy soul crackle that is impossible to resist, particularly on the rocky rumble of Trying So Hard Not to Know and the Sam Cooke-esque Howling at Nothing.
It could easily have come across as pastiche, but Rateliff pulls it off with no little aplomb.
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