Video: Nathan Graham Shares Music Video for Lead Single 'Pride'

Chicago singer, songwriter, and guitarist Nathan Graham has signed with Pravda Records (Andre Williams, The Flat Five, Steve Dawson) for his debut album, Saint of Second Chances, due out October 20, 2023. The first preview of the upcoming 10-song set arrives today as a music video for lead single “Pride,” directed by Rudy Rubio and premiering at DittyTV. "Pride" is available now on all music streaming platforms.

From a young age, artists like Lenny Kravitz proved to Graham that a black man can rock out on the electric guitar. He spent a decade as a guitar-for-hire, backing artists at legendary blues clubs such as Buddy Guy’s Legends and Kingston Mines, before he began performing his own songs. It took a bit of convincing to overcome his self-doubt as a singer, but some seemingly simple advice from his mother eventually pushed him forward: “All you have to do is open up your mouth, and project.” 

Graham has since opened for acts like Lucinda Williams, Ben Harper, The Wallflowers, Low Cut Connie, and Anders Osborn and performed as an original member of the Black Opry. With music that bridges South Side Blues and straightforward songwriting à la Chuck Berry, he is hoping to change the typical image that comes to mind when someone thinks of a "singer-songwriter" — to drive inclusivity into a genre not always known for its diversity.

“When people hear ‘singer-songwriter,’ they typically think of somebody who is white, middle-aged, male,” Graham says. But greats like Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross, Lauryn Hill, and even J. Cole deserve to be reframed as a part of the genre just as much as someone like Bob Dylan. “They’re doing it in a different way, but they’re doing the same exact thing: they’re using their voice to tell a story.”

On Saint of Second Chances, Graham’s guitars reach from delicate and pristine to reverberatingly powerful as he sings songs of regret, heartbreak, and anxiety with bombastic honeyed vocals. Tracks like “Good Honest Man” speak frankly about the urge to give up on love rather than risk loss, while “Fake Friends” offers a stomping, nostalgic rhythm behind some anxious self-reflection: “Saw you going down, down in flames / Well I guess I just didn’t know that I was doing the same.”

“I wrote a record about the human condition of having anxiety, having feelings of love and being scared to lose that, or scared that you’re going to screw it up somehow—or they’re going to screw it up somehow,” he says. “I want the audience to go on that journey with me. To sometimes be sad, and sometimes be joyful. I want us all to be walking through that journey with each other.”

Nathan Graham On Tour

July 29 - Beard Bros BBQ - Amherst, WI
August 11 - Chop Shop - Chicago, IL
August 17 - GMan Tavern - Chicago, IL
September 22 - Oaktoberfest - Oak Park, IL*
September 23 - Acorn Theatre - Three Oaks, MI*
September 30 - Funk 'n Waffles - Syracuse, NY
October 1 - The Press Room - Portsmouth, NH
October 2 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY^
October 3 - Hanover Strings - Hanover, NH
October 5 - The Kenneth Flash - Kenneth Square, PA^
October 7 - Mohonk Mountain House - New Paltz, NY
October 19 - FitzGerald's - Berwyn, IL
November 4 - Gibson Music Hall - Appleton, WI
November 18 - Sleeping Village - Chicago, IL
* with Lilly Hiatt
^ with sug daniels

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