Nathan Holscher Pray For Rain CD

BiographyNathan sounds like what would happen if Dire Straits lost an arm wrestling match to Townes Van Zandt. Unlikely perhaps, but so is a style steeped in frequent rambles across the landscapes of both the Midwest and Southwest. Chasing trout in small streams or the muse in a dingy bar, Nathan writes songs that somehow reflect both compassion and restlessness. At 25, his few adult years have been spent crafting songs and working to conserve the rivers and streams that he grew up on. In 2004, Nathan recorded Pray for Rain, which made small ripples in Europe, a smattering of “best of 2004” lists, and received some independent airplay in the U.S. In the Summer of 2004, after Holscher had scrapped together enough credits to get his degree in religious studies and Ferrell graduated from a school of massage therapy in Albuquerque, there was loose talk of going into a studio in Galena, IL (Holscher's adopted home town) in the hope of creating an album. After racking up some mileage on the roads between New Mexico and western Illinois, they bought some studio time at Heartland Studios in Galena and went to work. Lacking the funding (Haliburton was not hiring Religion Majors that summer) needed to purchase a relaxing week of takes and retakes, they plowed through most of the album in one 15 hour session that ended with both of them sampling various respiratory infections from the fetal position. But, amidst the phlegm-tossing and random application of Vick's Vapo Rub that followed, there arose the sweet and rugged sound of "Pray for Rain," their fist studio album. Replete with high and lonesome melodies, the songs enjoy the accompaniment of a few top-shelf musicians (percussion, dobro, steel guitar), giving the album the rootsy and organic qualities its creators had envisioned. With "Pray for Rain" in the bag, Holschger stumbled back towards Richmond to be near a good banjo player (Joe Bolinger) and fiddler (Isaiah Rembert) in hopes of finding some work playing in the lower Midwest. Despite Richmond's abundance of low-cost housing and dive bars, there's talk of relocation by the end of the year. It seems too many of us are haunted by the notion that there's a better gig somewhere down the road.