Nat Myers shows us his hometown in Kentucky, plays “Hobo Wine,” // GemsOnVHS™

This was a recording Tim Duggan and I captured back when we first met Nat Myers in 2022. Not every artist “gets it” when we work together. They try to bring me to some epic stage, or a cool forest, high-tech studio or something in Nashville. They see it as business. Nat, however, understands my work. He is well acquainted with the folk history and styles that I aspire to, the Lomaxs and old blues recordings. He invited us to his hometown, Covington, on the border of Kentucky and Ohio. We hit the pedestrian bridge on a lazy rainy day and let Nat do his thing, picking the blues and telling stories about growing up skating, degenerate friends and his favorite spots. We ate at Wafflehouse. We stayed at his folk’s place. His mom made us some Korean food for dinner. This is the kind of stuff I respect. He isn’t hiding anything, just being himself and unafraid to show it.

Nat is one of my favorite pickers, left handed or right. He is a bit of a savant at interpreting those old blues tunes, with his own flair. Beyond that, he is one of my favorite people. He is one of the few that stands on his morals and principles, regardless of what it does to his “career”. The reason this one didn’t come out sooner was because we recorded it in a year he was on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label. Nat didn’t like that Dan was hanging out with the ever pugnacious Kid Rock. It would’ve been easy to just stay silent about it, and I would expect most artists would to maintain their label relationship. Instead he decided to say fuck them, and unceremoniously dumped them (or they’d mutually done so together). Honestly, in a world full of performative people who so often will compromise their morality for the almighty $, I don’t care if you agree with his move or not, I respect him for it. I can always trust Nat to, whether I like it or not, say what he wants to say.

He once called my friend Josh Okeefe “urban outfitters Donovan” on Twitter (they’ve since made up lol). His first message to me was “why don’t you have any people of color on your channel?”. It actually led to a thoughtful conversation between us. He is comically blunt, some might say rude. All that said, there are a lot of fake motherfuckers in this business. People who will pretend to be your friend and then dump you the moment they get what they want. Nat is the type of dude who calls me anytime he is in Nashville. Who stops by my house when he is passing through the country just to say hello. Nat Myers is a real dude.

Being a musician isn’t an especially luxurious life. It can be fulfilling, to create joy for people, make them dance and express yourself through joyous (and sometimes blue) notes. But you don’t have security. Hell, none of us, musician or not, have much security in America. When it comes to medical emergencies, its basically a given you’re going to be financially destitute, and have your life destroyed. You’re liable to die just from the stress of the financial burden. I’m going to go ahead and state the “controversial” part out loud; medical care shouldn’t be tied to employment. Universal healthcare is moral. Capitalism and healthcare are not compatible, at least not when it comes to life-saving medicines. The incentives are not aligned. There’s an incredibly powerful lobby of wealthy businesses trying to convince you this is wrong, and if you believe them, you’re fooled.

What’s got me thinking about all this? Well folks, Nat has recently been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. If you are able, consider a donation to our friend: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-nat-fight-stage-iv-cancer
Any and all monetary gain from Nat’s work on our channel will be going there.

Stream Nat’s tunes on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2QMlNryks9wyxBCsBGciTS?si=lp1rGoXIQNiEpjkbn_NlKw
and check him out on instagram (@natmyersyall)

GemsOnVHS is a long running series of intimate, off-stage performances by songwriters we love.
We’re on instagram (@gemsonvhs or @anthonysimpkins)
Like us on FB too! (http://www.facebook.com/gemsonvhs)
www.gemsonvhs.com

Written by GemsOnVHS