So the rest of the country really is latching on to Nathaniel Rateliff. Two of our sister papers, for example, in Dallas and St. Louis, respectively, devoted coverage to Rateliff -- completely unbeknownst to us, we might add -- when he passed through their towns. That's not all that surprising to us. We, of course, firmly believe that Rateliff is entirely deserving of such critical notice, so it's not surprising to see him getting it. Not to mention, he's originally from Missouri, so the attention he's attracted from the latter paper also seems perfectly natural.
Now what's far more surprising to us is the number of people across the country who have filmed Rateliff performing "Shroud" or one of his other equally as moving numbers. Heck there's gotta be, what, at least a half-dozen or so clips floating around the web at this point? Maybe it's just happenstance, but they all seemed to be filmed in a similar stripped down fashion featuring Rateliff with just his acoustic and often flanked by his band mates and friends, Julie Davis and Joseph Pope III. The latest we've come across are these two clips filmed as part of the Blue Ribbon Vision series by the folks at the Pabst Riverside Theater in Wisconsin.
But here's how we can tell Rateliff is truly making his mark nationally. People are now covering his songs. Check out this clip we stumbled across yesterday of this talented young lass covering "Shround." We expected it to be underwhelming, but it's actually quite good.