Missouri-born songwriter, Nathaniel Rateliff, says he knows a lot of people like Eddie Palmer, the fictional main character in the dramatic movie, Palmer, which is out today on Apple TV+. Because he’s personally familiar with people like Palmer (played by Justin Timberlake), Rateliff had a keen point of view from which to start writing the film’s culminating song, “Redemption.” He received the opportunity out of the blue one day on his cell phone, while he was driving long distance to visit his girlfriend. He began humming melodies into a voice recorder as he propelled over long highway stretches. Later, he talked with Timberlake about the essence of the movie and core scenes. The result of Rateliff’s efforts is the new hopeful track, which mends as much as it inspires.
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“I grew up in rural Missouri,” Rateliff says. “You just see a lot of people struggling to have opportunities. People who, every time they seem to get ahead, they stumble right back. People who can’t seem to get away from bad situations even if they’re great people. I’m certainly familiar with that, and just the idea of having to live with family.”
In the movie, Eddie Palmer, a former football star, comes home after spending a long time away in prison. He tries to re-acclimate in his old hometown but it’s not easy. He befriends and begins to take care of an abandoned neighbor boy, who is often picked on in school. Through their friendship, both are transformed, though it’s not easy. Rateliff, a longtime Colorado-based musician who rose to fame in 2015 with the song, “S.O.B.,” says Timberlake described a specific “redemptive” courtroom scene in the film to him over the phone. The conversation and the particular wording stuck with the songwriter and informed his writing.
“The title came from that conversation,” Rateliff says. “It helped me shape what I thought this character was going through. I also tried to insert some of what I saw in the film and what I see in the world. Talking about this idea of continuing to struggle until we find an answer, until we find peace in our lives.”
When Rateliff was approached about the opportunity to write the movie’s headlining song, he says the production team was using another of his songs for a placeholder, the track, “Time Stands,” from Rateliff’s 2020 solo LP, And It’s Still Alright. Both the track and the LP are elegant in their production, subtlety peppered with well-timed heft. Rateliff used the album, in a way, as a blueprint for the texture of “Redemption.” But just because there was a formula doesn’t mean Rateliff was confident all the way through the writing.
“I started working on it immediately,” Rateliff says. “I had melodic idea and the chorus. But the funny thing was I didn’t really know if it was any good.”
He showed the song to some trusted collaborators and they assured him he was on the right track. So, the only thing to do then was to “chase down the song.” Rateliff experimented with some drum ideas and he and a studio crew methodically built the track. He started with guitar and then layered his voice, then added drums. He reached out to a singing group of three sisters he’d met when asked to perform at a Black Lives Matter rally in Englewood, Colorado, and he enlisted some of his band members in his group, The Night Sweats, for claps and other percussion. Rateliff says he enjoyed the process, especially because the song wasn’t for a personal band or solo project. In that way, he could play freely and experiment without a certain familiar pressure.
“I always get a kick out of that,” he says. “I was like that as a kid, too. Like in art class, when they said you can do whatever you want—some people struggled. I enjoyed it. I got to get a little outside of myself to write about that versus being stuck in my own head.”
Rateliff, who grew up playing music with his parents, was exposed to instruments and singing at an early age. He got his first drum kit at seven years old and his mother taught him guitar chords around thirteen. He’s been obsessed with songs ever since. In a way, he says, it was his only way out for a secure life as an adult. It was that or day laborer, Rateliff says. Well, he’s come a long way. To wit, on February 13th, Rateliff will be the musical guest for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. He is a clear example of what the future can look like even if the present begins humbly.
“Music is a wonderful experience,” Rateliff says. “To be a part of it is amazing. Just hearing it, even if you’re not playing it, you’re a part of it. It’s always been a blessing to have in my life, for sure.”
