There’s a subset of musicians commonly known as road dogs. They’re out there doing 100 shows a year, sometimes for decades. Between the tour van/RV and sympathetic fans, their home is defined by the bed underneath them tonight. Nate Currin is one of those guys. He may claim a place in Florida, or some remote acreage in Arizona, but those are anchor points more than anything. He’s about to release his 9th album, and it’s full of stories from his road-weary-but-eternally-hopeful experience.
The record is called Ghost Town. However, the ghosts aren’t really in a physical location, but rather memories triggered by people and places. There’s The Crying Wolf, an outlaw country anthem about not being the kid in East Nashville he used to be. Wild Heart is a plaintive ballad, recalling the fun he’s had in places along the drive from Arizona back to Georgia. White Hills brings back a time when the unique sunlight of the high desert meant time spent with a true love, sadly moved on. Let’s Stay In & Put a Dylan Record On is a country number just admitting that being on stage for a living doesn’t make a person an extrovert.
Currin’s emotive vocals and the ability to inject a touch of nostalgia from just the sound of his voice is a common thread throughout much of the album. You can really hear it on The Tamiami Trail, where maybe a dream life is just “down the dirt roads, a million miles from the sound of bikes and bars.” It’s a country kicker about a piece of road in south Florida where the legends of smugglers and treasure mix with the alligators and sawgrass. Lucy Becker adds a little twang with her fiddle and some brighter harmonies to the vocal mix. We’re so happy to premiere the song here, so please enjoy The Tamiami Trail.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.