Behind the Scenes of Nathaniel Rateliff and Gregory Alan Isakov's New Music Video

Colorado musicians Nathaniel Rateliff and Gregory Alan Isakov were friends long before they both broke through to the mainstream in recent years — Rateliff with his soulful rock ensemble, the Night Sweats, and Isakov with this folky, heartfelt solo work. The two old pals finally circled the wagons last week, though, when they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where they performed their haunting new duet, "Flowers." On March 5, they're premiering the music video for the song, which just so happens to have been directed by another Colorado creative: filmmaker (and one of Westword's People to Watch in 2025) Taylor McFadden.

"Nathaniel and Greg have been working on 'Flowers' on and off for years, so I had been hearing versions of it for a long time," says McFadden, who is also Rateliff's partner. This isn't the first time the couple has collaborated. Her debut feature film, Lovers, was released last year and screened at the Denver Film Festival in November of 2024; Rateliff was an executive producer on the movie, and he also provided its original music and played a small role onscreen.

"It got to the point where I just fell in love with the song," McFadden continues. "But I never knew if they were going to finish it or release it. But in December, I was down in New Mexico, and Nathaniel texted me the final mix. It was late night by a fire in Santa Fe, and this visual landscape just came to me. I'm always creating music videos in my head. Nathaniel showed up the next night, and he was like, 'Hey, would you want to pitch an idea on this project?' So it was like this weird synchronicity." McFadden's most prominent music video to date was for "Domino," a 2020 single by singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins, which was featured in Rolling Stone. The video for "Flowers" was shot in January during an overlapping break in Rateliff's and Isakov's hectic respective touring schedules. "Greg came home from tour the night before, and Nathaniel left for tour the next morning," McFadden recalls. "So we had one day." It was captured at Circuit Studios in Arvada, after which McFadden traveled to New York to direct Rateliff's and Isakov's Kimmel appearance. It was taped prior to the broadcast rather than in front of a live audience and used the same floral motif that she employed in the music video.

"We wanted the floral arrangements in the video to be very subtle, but we also wanted it to feel like a world," McFadden says. Those arrangements — which serve almost as a hyper-vivid filter placed over the stark, black-and-white footage of Rateliff and Isakov harmonizing and trading verses — were designed and installed by the director's sister, Jordan McFadden, a florist who owns Highland Petals in Los Angeles.

"To be honest with you," McFadden continues, "it was very feminine. With two artists that are very masculine and whose audience can often be really masculine, it was cool to see them in a more feminine context, a very beautiful environment, rather than just some dudes in denim with guitars. I felt like it was kind of a bold move on both of their parts. The funny thing is Greg works on a farm. And Nathaniel was a landscaper for ten years. Like, we literally get all the plants for our house from Greg every spring."

Lucky New York fans will get to see a full duet of "Flowers" performed in concert on March 27. That night, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats will headline Madison Square Garden, and Isakov will be the band's opener. The Night Sweats' next Denver show is on August 2 at Empower Field with the Lumineers; Isakov's is on April 17 at Boettcher Concert Hall with the Colorado Symphony.