Nathaniel Rateliff appeared on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to perform “And It’s Still Alright”, the title track from his upcoming solo album.
The singer-songwriter shed the former big band stage presence he had with The Night Sweats and took to the screen as a vulnerable performer armed with only an acoustic guitar. With his backing band covered by the darkness behind him, all eyes were on Ratefliff as he crooned the reassuring refrain, “and it’s still alright.” Even as the song builds to a relatively calm crescendo with a modest guitar solo, Rateliff and the strum of his acoustic guitar remain the center of attention of both the stage and the speaker.
Watch Nathaniel Rateliff perform “And It’s Still Alright” from Wednesday’s episode of Fallon below.
Nathaniel Rateliff – “And It’s Still Alright”
[Video: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon]
Rateliff’s sixth solo album And It’s Still Alright is due out February 14th via Stax Records, and will mark his first studio output since 2018 when he and the Night Sweats released Tearing At The Seams. And It’s Still Alright was written without the Night Sweats, as Rateliff told Rolling Stone that it was nice to do something he wanted to do, despite what anyone else thought.
“I was always drawn to do a record that maybe no one’s going to love, but you do it because it’s important to you,” Rateliff said. “That’s what I really love about Harry Nilsson. He always just did what he wanted to do in a world where everything needs to be some sort of commodity for the industry. It’s nice to be able to just write songs because you’d like the idea of writing songs and being able to work through your own shit.”
Nathaniel Rateliff will begin a tour with his solo band in support of his album And It’s Still Alright in March. He tours the United States until late April before leaving for Europe. Tickets are available through his website.