Nate Maingard has been performing since the late 90’s and has been a professional musician since 2011. He has been called an “indie-folk singer-songwriter,” though he prefers to call himself a storyteller, a modern troubadour. He says that his musical roots are on his father’s side and go all the way back to the French Courts.
Nate’s music takes a thoughtful look at the deeper side of life, including “questioning what it means to be human,” celebrating “all the myriad facets of what it means to be alive,” and even “the death cycles of life.” Nate believes in music’s ability to heal, and that using imagination and open-hearted communication is key.
Up until recently, Nate was on tour, performing in South Africa and the UK, with occasional shows in California. However, a broken hand has put him out of commission indefinitely. He is using the time wisely, though, making plans to change his approach to music, and “travelling and visiting communities and individuals around the world who are living life by their own rules, with truth, integrity, balance, community and care for the planet as their priorities.” He hopes that through these travels, he can show both himself, and his audience that “there are viable, sustainable alternatives to the consumer lifestyle we have been sold by mass education, mass media, and greedy corporations.” Nate plans to share everything he learns through http://patreon.com/natemaingard. Nate cites Ghandi as an inspiration, using the quote “The best way to change the world is to be that change.”
Nate’s favorite venues are “intimate house concerts, played in peoples’ living rooms or backyards.” He reasons that the connection he has with his audience then, “pure human connection,” makes it so much better. His favorite part about touring is the freedom. “There is something so liberating about being on the road. The sensation of drifting into the unknown with every step. The beauty in surrendering to the mystery of experiencing life as it happens. The joy of leaving ruts far behind.”
Much of Nate’s music is available to download free online, “I want people to be able to hear it regardless of how much money they have.” He states that there is a balance however, “give and take, Yin and Yang,” and that he encourages people to buy his music when they have the means necessary.
If you’re ever in the audience for one of Nate’s shows, you can expect a very intimate setting. He states that he goes on stage to “open the doorways we keep closed between one another,” and that as an audience member, “You can expect to FEEL: to laugh, to cry, to sing, to be reborn into the celebration of what it means to exist as a member of a global community of earth-people.”
Check out Nate’s website for more information, and listen to his music at http://natemaingard.com/.
-Kacey Rainone (PlaylistHQ Intern)
PlaylistHQ 