Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats set to headline Oxford’s Double Decker Saturday night

Published 2:13 pm Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Singer-songwriter and Double Decker headliner Nathaniel Rateliff may be based out of Denver, Colorado, but his work with his band, the Night Sweats, sounds distinctly Southern.

That may be in part because of his rural Missouri upbringing or because of the band’s self-titled 2015 debut being released through Stax Records in Memphis.

Born in Germany in 1978, Rateliff grew up in Hermann, Missouri, where he started to learn drums when he was seven. Once he hit his teenage years, he picked up a guitar and started writing his own songs.

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At 18, he moved to Denver for missionary work. In 2007, he released his first album as Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel. Two albums under that moniker followed after.

His first album with the Night Sweats is an 11-song collection featuring soulful cuts like the opener “I Need Never Get Old” and the barnstorming anthem “S.O.B.”, which climbed the Billboard Rock Charts to the No. 3 slot. Throughout the album, Rateliff’s soaring voice and huge presence are the glue that unites all the bluesy instrumentals going on around him.

The Night Sweats backing Rateliff are a six-piece outfit, which features the usual ingredients for a rock band (guitars, bass and drums) accompanied by keyboards, trumpet and saxophone.

Rateliff is not one to disappoint live. His powerhouse vocals are reminiscent of (Stax alum) Otis Redding and other R&B greats before him. Despite his stockier figure, the frontman shakes and shimmies across the stage, with the swagger of James Brown in his heyday.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats will be taking the Double Decker stage at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday.