Israel Nash (born January 5, 1981) is the recording and performing stage name moniker of American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Israel Nash Gripka.

Career

Originally from Missouri, Nash moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2006. Nash performed in clubs on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

such as

The Living Room The Living Room was a music venue on Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was originally established on Stanton Street of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City in 1988. The Liv ...

and Rockwood Music Hall. In 2009, he independently released his debut solo album, ''New York Town'', which was recorded at The Magic Shop in New York's Soho neighborhood. ''New York Town'' was eventually picked up by Dutch label Continental Records Services in Europe and the UK. His second album, ''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'', was released on March 29, 2011. The album was recorded during the summer of 2010 on a small farm located in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Nash recruited

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

Steve Shelley Steven Jay Shelley (born June 23, 1962) is an American drummer. He is best known as the longtime drummer of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, for whom he played from 1985 until their 2011 disbandment. Biography Shelley was born in Midland, ...

to co-produce the album and play drums on all the tracks. Ted Young engineered the album. For this album, Nash drew from his circle of friends to form his backing band including

Joey McClellan Midlake is an American folk rock band from Denton, Texas, formed in 1999. The band consists of Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Scott Lee, Eric Nichelson, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan. In 2012, vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Tim ...

(

Midlake Midlake is an American folk rock band from Denton, Texas, formed in 1999. The band consists of Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Scott Lee, Eric Nichelson, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan. In 2012, vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Tim ...

The Fieros The Fieros are an American rock band founded by brothers Joey and Aaron McClellan with good friends Chris Holston and Laura Harrell. They were originally named The Valentines but changed their name due to the number of other bands with the same n ...

) on lead guitar, Aaron McClellan (

) on bass guitar, and Eric Swanson on bass,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, and banjo. Released by Continental Record Services, the album garnered further attention in Europe and the UK and received positive reviews in publications like

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

. ''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'' was also chosen as the top album of 2011 by the Euro Americana Charts. Extensive touring in Europe in support of ''Barn Doors'' helped Nash gain greater exposure. In late 2011, Nash left New York City and moved to

Dripping Springs, Texas Dripping Springs is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,650 at the 2020 census. Dripping Springs is a primarily rural town. Geography Dripping Springs is in northern Hays County at (30.191998, –98.085382). It is ...

. His third record, Israel Nash's ''Rain Plans'', was recorded in the summer of 2012. ''Rain Plans'' was produced by Nash and again engineered by Ted Young. The album was tracked on a Studer 16-track 2" analog tape machine intentionally avoiding the use of modern digital recording technology. Nash's house outside of Dripping Springs served as the studio and residence for the band during the recording session. The band consisted of Nash's touring lineup from the Barn Doors album cycle, including drummer Josh Fleischmann, Joey and Aaron McClellan on guitar and bass (respectively), and Eric Swanson on

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...

. Released by the London label

Loose Music Loose is a British independent record label based in Ladbroke Grove, London. In 1998, Loose was formed from the vinyl only record label, Vinyl Junkie, which was set up in 1994 by Tom Bridgewater. Loose Music - About Since 1998, Loose has rele ...

on September 30, 2013, the album received generally positive reviews from the European press. In 2014, ''Rain Plans'' was released in the US by

through Nashville based label services company

Thirty Tigers Thirty Tigers is an American entertainment company which offers music marketing, distribution, and management services to independent artists. It is based in Nashville. History The company was founded in 2002 by David Macias and Deb Markland ...

. It quickly became a favorite on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and several non-commercial radio stations such as

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the non-p ...

in Seattle,

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...

in Philadelphia,

KUTX KUTX (98.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Leander, Texas and serving the greater Austin, Texas area with an Adult album alternative format. The station is owned by University of Texas at Austin with headquarters at the Belo Ce ...

in Austin, and The Current in Minneapolis-St. Paul. In January 2015, Israel Nash was featured on a session of World Cafe. Nash and his band recorded ''Silver Season'' on tape at Nash's Texas ranch in 2015 which was released October 2015 to critical acclaim. ''Classic Rock'' magazine considered it "even more exquisite" than ''Rain Plans''. ''Q'' magazine highlighted its "subtly political messages", while ''Uncut'' called it "a terrific album". ''Mojo'' praised its "cosmic poetry, crunching guitars and swooning pedal steel". On November 4, 2016, Nash and

The Bright Light Social Hour The Bright Light Social Hour is an American psychedelic rock band from Austin, Texas. The band is composed of Jackie O'Brien on bass and vocals, Curtis Roush on guitar and vocals, Zac Catanzaro on drums, Mia Carruthers on keys and vocals, and Jua ...

released the three-song collaborative EP ''Neighbors''. The EP was recorded between the two bands' studios near Austin, and was released digitally and as a limited edition 7" vinyl record.

Discography

*''New York Town'' (2009) *''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'' (2011) *''2011 Barn Doors Spring Tour, Live in Holland'' (2011) *''Israel Nash's Rain Plans'' (2013) *''Israel Nash's Rain Plans'' (August 19, 2014 / North America Release) *''Israel Nash's Silver Season'' (2015) *''Neighbors'' EP (2016) (with

) *'' Lifted'' (2018) *''Topaz'' EP (2019) *''Across the Water; Live in Europe'' (2020) *''

Topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Israel American male singer-songwriters 1981 births Living people Guitarists from Texas American male guitarists People from Dripping Springs, Texas 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Texas