David Nail Embraces a New Chapter, Discovering His Most Meaningful Role is Sharing Stories That Offer Hope

David Nail never intended to make another album. The country singer-songwriter, who made his chart debut in 2002 with “Memphis,” didn’t enjoy making records. So, it comes as no surprise that Flowers marks his first solo album in more than a decade. The now-independent artist details the “insane pressure” he felt while on a major label. 

“The one thing I hated about making records was, you go in the studio, you cut four or five things, you hopefully had a single, you put that on the radio,” he tells American Songwriteron a video call. “Then, hopefully, that [single] got to a point where it looked like it was going to be successful enough that they would then let you go back in and cut the rest of it.” 

This delayed process never allowed him to focus on an album as a whole. When Nail parted ways with MCA Nashville after 10 years in 2017, he finally had the freedom he wanted. Instead of recording full-length albums every two to three years, he released music on his own terms. He embraced recording EPs, releasing five as a solo artist. He also unveiled Only This and Nothing More, an album with sound engineer Jason Hall and bandmate Andrew Petroff under the name David Nail and the Well Ravens.

“The EPs fit my personality better, and you could do four or five songs and put it out there, move on to the next thing,” he says. 

When it came to songwriting, Nail raved about his former label. He says he was encouraged to be himself and “write for me.” The Missouri native penned his first song at 18. Titled “The Man I’ll Never Be,” the song was written from the perspective of a man staying out late at the bars while his girlfriend waits around for the man he’ll never be. 

“It’s hilarious, because I didn’t drink then, I didn’t go out,” he says. “How in the world did I write this song? Looking back, from an objective viewpoint, I’m proud that I was able to remove myself. Since then, it’s been very difficult to do that once I actually started living life and having life experiences. It’s always been very difficult for me to put myself in someone else’s shoes.”

When he first moved to Nashville, Nail was uncomfortable co-writing and sitting in a room divulging his personal details. He likens the experience to going to a counselor. 

“Once you make that step and that leap, then you’re just like, ‘OK, I know this is a stranger, they don’t know anything about me, but they’re about to know everything about me in about 30 minutes,’” he says with a laugh.

The Grammy-nominated artist doesn’t keep a list of titles or song ideas but says he can feel when something’s stirring inside. He has guitars around his home so when inspiration strikes, there’s one at the ready. 

Nail says songs often develop in the writing room through small talk. During his first writing session with Anderson East, who serves as co-writer and producer on Flowers, Nail began telling him a story about a girl he grew up with. The pair began writing what would become “The Crown,” and Nail admits he almost blacked out and doesn’t remember discussing the song. 

“It wasn’t really until we were done, and I was singing what became a work tape, where I was realizing what I was singing about,” he says of the powerful story song. 

Lisa, we still see the queen / Just like you were seventeen / Standing there in your homecoming gown / Even though you lost your way / Heaven knows the price you paid / You’ll always have a home in this ole town / I know some will try and tear you down / But I still see the crown.

The initial idea for “The Crown” came from a close friend. Nail’s friend spoke with the woman about coming home after; as Nail sings in the song, she waits in a five-by-five. 

“She said, ‘No, I can’t. They know who I was when I left; they’re not prepared for who I am now,’” Nail recalls. “It just killed me. I remember thinking, ‘If you can’t come back home, where the hell can you go?’ That’s really what I wanted the song to be, a welcoming thing.”

The closer it came to releasing “The Crown” as the first single from Flowers, the more anxious Nail became about the personal song. When a hometown lawyer reached out and stressed that the song’s subject matter would change somebody’s life, Nail viewed it in a new light.

“From that text, I listened to it completely different,” he says. “I could pull myself out of it, and it was like I became the messenger. This is hope. I’m not here to judge you, or your mistakes, or what you’ve done, or what you need to do, or where you are in your life.”

Nail says there was no pressure while writing with East, and the 40-minute drive to each writing session allowed him to step out of his everyday life. The duo penned nine of the album’s 10 songs together, alongside Trent Dabbs, Melissa Fuller, and Lori McKenna. 

“We were just trying to write great songs,” he says, describing East as “a freak talent.” “There wasn’t a whole lot of talk about what this could be.” 

When Nail met with East and McKenna to write “Skyfall,” the sixth song penned for what would become Flowers, the project became real for him. The trio later wrote “Riverbank,” the final song on the album that Nail says is “the best thing I’ve ever had my name on.” Written for his wife Catherine, “Riverbank” is a stunning love song that reminds her of her importance.

If life was a riverbank / Mine would take the shape of you / Only spelling out your name / Always moving night and day / Even when the years wash it away / My love remains.

Nail says he wanted to tell Catherine that she’s more than a mother, a wife, and a daughter. He credits McKenna, who is featured on the track, for helping him say what was needed. 

“There’s one quality that I think separates Lori from anybody else that I’ve written with,” Nail says. “She has a window into who you are and how you feel.”

For the past year, Nail has performed “Riverbank” last in his set each night. He says there’s a feeling and connection with it unlike any other song he’s written. He adds that he wants it to be the last song he ever sings.

“When I listen to it now, it’s as tender and as simple as I probably ever sang a song in my life,” he says. “If this is the last piece of music that I ever release, I hope this song, when all the dust settles, is what people remember me by.”

“I Bought the Flowers,” written for his oldest daughter, Lilli Cate, is another tender track that serves as a truce to his 10-year-old. He recalls having an “insane morning” trying to get the kids to school while his daughter was “pushing every button in the world.” 

“I remember getting in the car, and I was so mentally exhausted, and didn’t want to go write a song,” he recalls. “So, I walked into this gas station to get a Diet Dr Pepper, and they had this little bucket with $5 bouquets. I looked at it, and I was like, ‘I’m stopping by here on the way home. I’m getting one of those. I’m going to hand it to Lilli Cate at her school, and be like, ‘Here’s my truce. We’re not going to argue anymore.’”

[RELATED: David Nail Delivers Remarkable Songwriting On ‘Bootheel 2020’ EP]

A father of three, Nail says his children know he’s an artist although he can tell they’re trying to figure out, “Where’s Dad in regard to Taylor Swift”? For a short while—long before they were born—Nail was in Swift’s orbit. In 2009, Swift tweeted that Nail’s now-platinum-certified single “Red Light” was her “new favorite.” In 2011, he joined her Speak Now World Tour for several dates. 

“She saved ‘Red Light,’” Nail admits. “Radio gave it one last push, probably got it from 15 into the top 10. It had been on the chart forever.”

His breakthrough single, “Red Light,” peaked at No. 7 on the Country Airplay chart in December 2009. He’d go on to release several more singles, including chart toppers “Let It Rain” and triple platinum “Whatever She’s Got.” 

Surviving more than 20 years in the music industry, Nail says his longevity is due to never having a plan B. He believes in his heart that music is what “the good Lord put me on this Earth to do.” 

“If you look at it from the radio singles that I released, it was so all over the place, a roller coaster,” he admits, adding that he never felt completely comfortable in his career. “At the end of the year, I would pray, ‘I hope that they say I can do this again next year.’”

For Nail, songwriting became an outlet. Nail confesses he’snot the best communicator, and says songwriting allows him to wear his heart on his sleeve. He says when he first started co-writing, he was scared to death. Soon, co-writing became a crutch, and he remembers advice from former producer Frank Liddell: “never lose the ability to write by yourself.”

COVID forced Nail to write by himself, and he loved not having to ask for anyone’s approval. It was a major transition when he started writing with East. 

“This whole record, the whole experience was jumping in the deep end and going, ‘Not only am I going to start co-writing a bunch, but I’m going to start co-writing with somebody I don’t even know, and I’ve never worked with,’” he says.

Once they realized their collaboration was fruitful, their mentality became “keep going to the well until it dries up.” Along the way, Nail admits every drive to East’s house he was prepared that “the ride was over.” 

“Fifteen years ago, I would have been devastated if that had come to fruition,” he says of his career ending. “I wasn’t living and dying with every songwriting session, but I think my willingness to go with the flow is what made it so unique and so great.”

Nail says he’s even adopted East’s way of writing by doing what the song needs and nothing more.

“It was very fascinating and inspiring to be around him and see the method to the madness,” he says. “Anderson makes the most important thing the most important thing, and I think that’s what obviously makes him a great artist, a great producer, a great songwriter.”

Photos by Michael Fogarty