Dripping Springs, Texas, population 1,870, may not be a town that’s on everyone’s radar, but quietly enough, it’s becoming a place with a little musical lore to it. First, Sam Beam (a.k.a. Iron & Wine) retreated to the Austin suburb with his family some years back, mainly for the privacy (naturally), and now there’s the saga of Israel Nash.
A Missouri native, Nash first arrived in Dripping Springs before recording his 2013 album Israel Nash’s Rain Plans, which he did inside his home with his then-pregnant wife by his side. For his upcoming fourth LP Israel Nash’s Silver Season, however, Nash expanded the operation, building a Quonset-housed studio named Plum Creek Sound, where he and his band recorded amidst flooding in the area, sandbagging and draining their way through the process.
This anecdote is useful in segueing to the sound of Nash’s music, which has rightly been compared to Neil Young (someone who also took to a remote, ranch-style location to record his fourth album Harvest), but, if anything, Nash actually has a tendency to sound more like Stephen Stills (now that we’re talking about that crew). Either way, his unique way of approaching Americana, country, psychedelia, and folk speaks for itself, particularly on the new single “Strangers”—an ambitious and immersive rock epic that runs almost seven minutes in length (and stands strong the whole way through—have no doubt about that).
Israel Nash’s Silver Season track list
1. Willow
2. Parlour Song
3. The Fire & The Flood
4. LA Lately
5. Lavendula
6. Strangers
7. A Coat Of Many Colors
8. Mariner’s Ode
9. The Rag & Bone Man
Israel Nash’s Silver Season is out October 9 on Loose/Thirty Tigers.
