♪The guns are all for shooting clays♪ ♪The guns are all for shooting clays♪ ♪When the Lord comes back, the rich get scared♪ ♪A’int gotta act mean to be treated fair♪ ♪All the living’s honest and dying too♪ ♪Our bodies return as heirlooms♪ ♪Coulda already come a time or two♪ ♪And they killed him like they tend to do♪ ♪So I'm praying for the mighty to fall♪ ♪Else ain't no use in prayer at all♪ I’m Glenn Richards And this is Amplified, showcasing some amazing artists for your listening pleasure.

On this episode we welcome indie country singer songwriter Nathan Evans Fox.

From his, 2008 album Texas Dust.

This Is “TX Blues No 7” Nathan Evans Fox on Amplified.

♪♪Lost my taste poetry♪ ♪Picked up my taste for gin♪ ♪When we headed out for Houston with no family♪ ♪and no friends♪ ♪We moved out here this time last year♪ ♪Threw dirt on sparks that we held dear♪ ♪Oh send me in eastbound wind♪ ♪I traded in my walking boots♪ ♪for a pair of polished shoes♪ ♪Took up a bossman's Bible♪ ♪Led the dying towards their tombs♪ ♪But all the prayers that I prayed here♪ ♪just paid my bills and bought my beer♪ ♪Oh, send me an eastbound wind♪ ♪Intercede for me,♪ ♪Sweet Saint Cecilia plead my case♪ ♪to the rocks and trees this earth will understand♪ ♪And let all heaven's ears grow closed♪ ♪Out where the burning dust all glows♪ ♪The only dust that we will know♪ ♪Will wash from our feet♪ ♪And I wrap my faith in bubble wrap♪ ♪I made altars of moving vans♪ ♪And I did my best to dodge♪ ♪them hammers swung by Christian hands♪ ♪But this fragile thing that we keep warm♪ ♪Just might tire out before it's born♪ ♪Oh send me an eastbound wind♪ ♪Intercede for me,♪ ♪Sweet Saint Cecilia plead my case to the rocks and trees♪ ♪This Earth will understand♪ ♪And let all heaven's ears grow closed♪ ♪Out where the burning dust all glows♪ ♪The only dust that we will know♪ ♪Will wash from our feet♪ ♪Where it is, my friends have been♪ ♪Is where I want to go♪ ♪Where it is my friends have been♪ ♪It's what I want to know♪ ♪I’m getting tired of holding smiles♪ ♪for memories of absent folks♪ ♪Oh, send me an eastbound wind♪ ♪Oh, send me an eastbound wind♪ ♪Oh, send me an eastbound wind♪♪ Thank you.

Yeah.

This next song is kind of like the opposite vibe.

I think I think I have two versions of songs, sad and mean.

And, I like I like being a little mean.

I mean, you know, mean has some strategic use, I think, and I think we should bring back, country music diss tracks more often.

So this one's.

That's what that is.

That's what this is.

It's called, “Landlords, Bill Lee, Etc.” Well, ♪♪Well I hope your tenants make meth and chain smoke♪ ♪Got a herd of cats ain't ever get trained♪ ♪I hope all your children grow up♪ ♪to call you by your first name♪ ♪Let it be mighty nice to see you get right♪ ♪But you choose a road you'd hoe♪ ♪So, I hope trouble come and find you♪ ♪Till you lose your mind♪ ♪You get lost, or finally come home♪ ♪Well I'm wishing you a hard life♪ ♪Hard times♪ ♪That you get what you give♪ ♪This whole world is rubber♪ ♪And you are glue♪ ♪The hell you been makin puts a hurtin on you♪ ♪A little bit of hillbilly karma, down home dharma♪ ♪Gives you a good talking to♪ ♪But till then bless your heart♪ ♪You are what you are♪ ♪I hope this life of meanness don't come easy♪ ♪And a hard hearts hard on you♪ ♪Well, I hope your dog don't ever love you♪ ♪Don't ever want to come home♪ ♪and takes up at the neighbors♪ ♪barks at your window all night long♪ ♪I hope your AC is hot♪ ♪Your heat is cold♪ ♪There's only Pepsi when you want Coke♪ ♪Whatever sad souls there when you are old♪ ♪Don't ever want to watch your TV shows♪ ♪Well I'm wishing you a hard life♪ ♪Hard times, that you get what you give♪ ♪This whole world is rubber and you are glue♪ ♪The hell you been makin puts a hurtin on you♪ ♪A little bit of hillbilly karma, down home dharma♪ ♪Gives you a good talking to♪ ♪But till then, bless your heart, you are what you are♪ ♪I hope this life of meanness don't come easy♪ ♪And a hard heart's hard on you♪ ♪Well I hope there ain't no bait when you go fishing♪ ♪’Cept the worms that are in your brain♪ ♪I hope you sit out in the sun all day♪ ♪And you don't ever catch a thing♪ ♪I hope your records all skip♪ ♪Gotta swallow when you dip♪ ♪And the mail man he only brings bills♪ ♪You get everything you want, but nothing you need♪ ♪Except pity from all of your friends♪ ♪Cause you can carve your name in the front pew♪ ♪And all your friends, they can say you’re nice♪ ♪Give all your money to charity♪ ♪It don't mean you're living right♪ ♪But like somebodys mama said, somebodys momma♪ ♪If you can't say nothing kind♪ ♪Then you oughta, well you gotta♪ ♪say it more than twice♪ ♪Well, I'm wishing you a hard life♪ ♪A really hard life that you get what you give♪ ♪His whole world is rubber and you are glue♪ ♪The hell you even makin puts a hurtin on you♪ ♪A little bit of hillbilly karma, down home dharma♪ ♪Gives you a good talking to♪ ♪But til then bless your heart♪ ♪You are what you are♪ ♪I hope this life of meanness, it don’t come easy♪ ♪And a hard heart's hard on you♪♪ I like that one.

That's “Landlords, Bill Lee, Etc.” from Nathan Evans Fox on Amplified.

A 2024 single that's on his 2026 album “Heirloom” and “TX Blues No 7” ahead of that from his 2008 album “Texas Dust.” And you can do the math and you can figure out that he's been doing this for a minute or two.

Nathan, welcome.

And thank you.

Thank you that I love that track.

Thank you.

I love a good diss track.

Yeah, it scratches an itch.

I've.

I've won, I've won many a hippie over who say they love everybody.

And then they have a little fun realizing that maybe they want to be a little mean to strategic meanness.

You know, it reminds me of, well, Robert Earl Keen or early Charles, Charlie Daniels, you know, like his, “Long Haired Country Boy” or, you know, some of those tracks.

Yeah.

It's a lot of fun.

Yeah.

And you're grinning through the whole thing?

Yeah.

Of course.

Yeah, it's all tongue in cheek.

Real fun.

So tell us about, “Heirloom.” Heirloom?

Yeah.

So “Heirloom” Oh, Lord.

Where to begin?

I guess the big story is I became a dad and lost my dad in the same year.

And so I wrote.

I wrote that record kind of in this season of, like, just being in a real.

I hate to say it because it's the name, one of my songs, but it's true.

I is an a bottleneck.

I kind of felt my life like contracting, and having the responsibility of, of caring for a kid and figuring out who you are and that and figuring out what it means to be a parent and what it means to be a dad.

While reflecting on, you know what?

I need to forgive my dad for what I appreciate about my dad.

What I what I need to be critical of, and doing it all in real time, and it, it it it humbled me profoundly.

And so the record is, is it comes out of thinking about that and thinking about, what it means to work through, to think in generations, to think in, in iterations of like there was last season's seed.

And we're going to plant it in the next season.

And so what does it mean to bring things into the future?

And what do I want to hand down?

What do I think is good enough to to end with me?

Yeah, those kind of things will put that whole passage of time thing into perspective.

Yeah.

Yeah, man, gives you a lot to write about.

There's so much material.

Yeah.

Whole records worth.

Yeah.

So tell us.

So how'd you end up in Nashville or me, or is that just kind of a natural, like singer songwriters?

You were born in North Carolina.

I'm born in western North Carolina.

Was graduating college during the recession.

Where I'm from in North Carolina, there were not hardly any jobs during the recession.

So I didn't really have a good, good place to go back to.

So bounced around a little bit, lived in South Carolina, parts of North Carolina, and then moved around a bunch.

Lived in New York City for a couple years, which is cool.

Broke.

Broke my brain, broke my very small country brain to live in, one of the biggest cities in the world, lived in Houston for two cursed years.

I don't I don't recommend that city at all.

And then lived in Atlanta for a couple years and love Atlanta as far as cities in the South go.

But there's, there's a great music scene.

But when it comes to, like, kind of country songwriting stuff, everybody kind of goes to Nashville.

If you're in Atlanta, like a four hour drive, so you just move up there.

So I just moved up there to try to give it a go, not knowing that we would be in a tornado and then there would be a Covid lockdown and then, you know, family stuff, having kids, parents dying.

So I feel like I've been there since 2019, but I feel like I'm just now becoming a part of of the city.

Well, tell us about this, next one.

This is, this one's called “Cigarettes and Moon Pies” This is also a little bit older.

This one's from a record that came out in 2020.

But, this is this is kind of just a love song, like a very chaotic love song to North Carolina.

And where I'm from, I don't think it translates to most, but you got to.

You got to live within, like, a two county, like, radius of where I'm from for for all to make sense.

So it makes sense that I go and play in places like Berlin.

But yeah, I tell people it's like just wishing I could have gotten married in a gas station up on Jonas Ridge.

I'm a real fan of gas stations, you know?

And y'all got Wawa here, which is cool.

I know that's, Philadelphia thing, but.

Yeah.

Yeah, but you got burritos, you know?

Yeah.

Right.

No.

And, and also they have, or what's his, the one in like, Live Oak.

It's, called Spark.

I think it's kind of like a yes, a Wawa-ish.

Yeah.

Kind of Buc-ee's place.

Yeah.

But they have flavors of moon pies I've never heard of before.

Oh my God.

Okay, well, I'm going to be studying, Bananas.

Mine.

Oh.

You're a banana guy?

Yeah.

I don't know why.

That says a lot.

This is, a kid thing, so I understand moon pies.

I don't understand the whole RC Cola and the moon pie.

I learned about that from NRBQ.

Yeah, but I get it.

Yeah, it's it's good stuff.

It's kind of like when Cheer, Cheerwine came to Gaineville, I was like, yes.

Oh, steeped in the lore of Cheerwine.

What's your.

Yeah, I'm a big Sun Drop guy.

Which was originally also Sun Drop and Cheerwine were like North Carolina things and they would national rebranded as like a surf thing.

It's not surfer stuff, it's just NASCAR.

It's like a Mountain Dew substitute, but like more regional.

But there's a Sun Drop reference in the song, okay that nobody ever catches.

Well, let's hear it.

This is from 2020 album “Kindness”, “Cigarettes and Moon Pies”.

Nathan Evans Fox on Amplified.

♪♪Well, give me whiskey in the morning♪ ♪Give me coffee in the evening♪ ♪Give me a snap back♪ ♪And Cracker Jacks and other things that I believe in♪ ♪And you can crack this jack♪ ♪and snap back at things you swear I lack♪ ♪I will love you more, babe, everyday♪ ♪Give me cigarettes in the afternoon♪ ♪Read me, Falkner when I get real blue♪ ♪And the moon's as big as moon pies♪ ♪Rising high in that Marlboro light sky♪ ♪And I will bring you peaches that were picked out in Georgia♪ ♪RC Cola’s I picked up off 64♪ ♪Because I ain't good at much of nothing♪ ♪I hope I'm getting good at lovin♪ ♪I hope I’m getting good at letting you love me♪ ♪And I tell you about them good old days♪ ♪when Richard Petty ran the raceway♪ ♪And he was king and I was prince♪ ♪Only problem well, I wasn't born back then♪ ♪And you were just smoke rising high♪ ♪Your parents well they didn't know, but, I knew that I was meant to love you, babe♪ ♪Oh and I will bring you Emmylou and Doc Watson♪ ♪We'll see who plays who♪ ♪And you can drag your needle, cross my heart♪ ♪And cross stitch up on my skin♪ ♪When I get cross, I don't give in♪ ♪Babe, I need your name upon my arm♪ ♪Cause I ain't good at much nothing♪ ♪I hope I’m gettin good at lovin♪ ♪I hope I’m getting good at letting you love me♪ ♪I ain't good at much nothing♪ ♪I hope I’m gettin good at lovin♪ ♪I hope I’m getting good at letting you love me♪ ♪So stay under these sheets with me♪ ♪be the place that we should be♪ ♪I’ll be the briars in the berry patch♪ ♪And I pulled an ole blue jeans back♪ ♪And I will be your Huckleberry♪ ♪Or whatever country song you care♪ ♪We'll both learn something about being free♪ ♪Oh, the sun has dropped itself on me♪ ♪You’re sweeter than the sweetest thing♪ ♪And I see your face on every sign up 181♪ ♪And the muscadines all have your smile♪ ♪So I keep them in my mouth most times♪ ♪Go out looking for that wholesome seed♪ ♪Well I ain't good at much nothing♪ ♪I hope I’m gettin good at lovin♪ ♪I hope I’m getting good at letting you love me♪ ♪I ain't good at much nothing♪ ♪I hope I’m gettin good at lovin♪ ♪I hope I’m getting good at letting you love me♪♪ Thank you, thank you, thank you.

This song, when kind of viral about a year ago.

And it's opened a lot of doors for me, which is funny because it just started as, like, a little noodle.

I, you know, you write a lot.

And this was just like, a couple verses I was just kind of playing around with before my kid ripped my guitar out of my hand, and we went and played with magnet tiles.

And I just posted that little bit and it took off.

So I'm really grateful for this song.

It's, it's taken me by surprise.

Which is nice.

When the song does that for you, you don't have to do all the lifting yourself.

♪♪When the Lord comes back♪ ♪ain’t gonna be no cops♪ ♪You can cook your own, you can smoke your crops♪ ♪All the boys gonna wear the purty things♪ ♪When the Lord comes back ain’t gotta prove a thing♪ ♪When the Lord comes back I'm going to drive real slow♪ ♪Gonna go wherever the spirit goes♪ ♪Gonna dawdle and piddle and talk and cuss♪ ♪Ain't no boss gonna make a fuss♪ ♪When the Lord comes back♪ ♪I'm going to drive real slow♪ ♪Every high place gonna be brought low♪ ♪Every high place gonna be brought low♪ ♪When kingdom come, we’ll want for nothin♪ ♪just a long table, a mess of beans and honey buns♪ ♪Where the trucks are small♪ ♪The trains are late♪ ♪The men pick up their dinner plates♪ ♪Ain't nobody sees that the debts are paid♪ ♪The guns are all for shooting clays♪ ♪The guns are all for shooting clays♪ ♪The guns are all for shooting clays♪ ♪When the Lord comes back, the rich get scared♪ ♪Ain’t gotta act mean to be treated fair♪ ♪All the living’s honest and the dying too♪ ♪Our bodies return as heirlooms♪ ♪Coulda already come a time two♪ ♪And they kill him like they tend to do♪ ♪So I'm praying for the mighty to fall♪ ♪Else ain't no use in prayer at all♪ ♪When the Lord comes back, I’ll do my best♪ ♪To share my okra and cigarettes♪ ♪Break every law I can't respect♪ ♪Leave some tall grass for all the critters’ rest♪ ♪When the Lord comes back I'll do my best♪ ♪To share my okra and cigarettes♪ ♪To share my okra and cigarettes♪ ♪To share my okra and cigarettes♪♪ Thank you.

That's “Hillbilly Hymn (Okra and Cigarettes)” from Nathan Evans Fox on Amplified.

That is, from his latest album “Heirloom”.

And ahead of that “Cigarettes and Moon Pies” So that was the cigarette set?

Yeah, I can see why that song is resonating.

Maybe with with some folks is some really, nice sentiments in there.

I like the tall grass for the critters.

Yeah.

We've been, really into rewilding lately.

Doing our best that we can.

And we live in the city, but, it's cool to just to just make a little home for all the critters.

You know, I think with my with my daughter, who's old enough to kind of pay attention to things, we try to take note of every little bird and bug we see.

Because there is a lot of climate loss right now, a lot of biodiversity loss.

I don't know when she'll get to see the next monarch butterfly or anything.

And it's it's good to just appreciate even the weird little creepy crawlies, because they're fun and they're a part of of what makes the world so big.

It's part of life.

It's part of life.

Yeah.

So, you've described your music as, “comrade country”?

Comrade country.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, I, I'm from the I'm from the hills.

And, there's this kind of interesting thing where people think that, being from the hills means that you got to be a certain way.

But there's a long history of labor struggle.

There's a long history of taking care of one another.

And so it's it's that I'm trying to kind of speaking of rewilding.

I mean, I'm trying to, like, rewild country music, because I think a lot of what people are saying is country music right now is really, suburban chain store values, country's pretty illegible, country is about taking care of each other.

It's about, living, living in a way that that gets to be a little weird, and a little resilient.

And so that's what Comrade Country means.

Means for me.

It's about making comrades.

Yeah.

And do you have a podcast?

I did, yeah.

We, like the name of the podcast.

-Yallidarity Social Club.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's been And that's been a longstanding thing for me.

Yeah.

Yallidarity is the The concept of yallidarity doesn't come from me, but I’ve I've incorporated it pretty heavily into, like, how I approach music and shows and, and what I, what I hope my songs are to people.

It's really important to me, to tell a true story about the South.

Not one that's full of lost causes or, kind of myths, but tells the story of, like, really like okra.

Like who grew okra?

Who taught us how to eat it.

If you follow like okra foodways, you're following the kind of yallidarity pathway.

You know what it means to to think about a plant that is very hardy, a plant that has a little bit of slime and a little bit of funk to it.

You know, it's not for everybody.

It's a little twang to it.

You can cook it a thousand different ways and it And it still fits in everybody's table if you can, if you can learn to love it.

Yeah.

So, yallidarity It's like okra.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right, so we've got time for for one more tune.

Yeah.

Anything you want to tell us about this one now?

“Bottleneck” Is it on “Heirloom”?

It's not.

It's funny, we, we wrapped up recording an “Heirloom,” and then, the the month.

The month that I got the master's back, I wrote this song.

That's the, that's the gift and the curse of writing autobiographically.

Is that, you just write through what you know and what you're going through.

And so sometimes you just write the song that sums up the record you just finished.

And people like it enough to release it, to have to release it.

So.

So “Bottleneck” belongs on “Heirloom”.

Yes.

But it's not on “Heirloom”.

It's the it's the trade book version of “Heirloom”.

You know, if we're doing it for the masses in a in a short little thesis, that's it.

Okay.

And then the academic, the citations are all in “Heirloom”.

Where's the best place for people to find out more about you and hear “Heirloom” and “Bottleneck”?

Yeah.

Well, it's I tell people it's choose your own adventure.

So Instagram I'm pretty tame.

I'm on Instagram.

If you want to hear me yap about everything, I mean, everything.

I'm on TikTok.

I do enjoy writing quite a bit.

About, you know, being a working musician.

So that's on Substack.

I'm anywhere.

And then I'm, I'm on all of your streamers, Bandcamp, all that.

My website I got, I got look, I'm going to say it, I got cool merch, I do I married a graphic designer as like a political strategic move, you know, like we love each other, but also it's a little bit like when medieval kings and queens used to marry off to build truces.

It's like that, but for just normal people.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Cool.

NathanEvansFox.com?

Yes.

Okay.

Got it.

And I also I should say I'm not Nathan Evans or Nathan Fox.

Nathan Evans got really famous like he got really famous for the sea chanties in 2020.

I'm not Scottish.

I don't know if you can tell by the accent.

All right.

Yeah.

Here's, one more from Nathan Evans Fox.

This is, “Bottleneck”, released in 2025.

On Amplified.

♪♪Lost my daddy this spring♪ ♪Got thrown off track♪ ♪Quit a job that worked me hard♪ ♪They didn't hire me back♪ ♪Joke's on them, honey♪ ♪I became a good dad♪ ♪Ain't no boss gonna get my best work♪ ♪I ain't the sweat that I sow that the rich are gonna reap♪ ♪I’m whatever growing things are gonna make out of me♪ ♪Well there's a rage in my belly that I've learned to keep♪ ♪Maybe rage is a kind of hope♪ ♪That these days need♪ ♪Thoughts and prayers and feelings and words♪ ♪Every seeds gotta grow♪ ♪in some kind of dirt♪ ♪What's my body but a piece of aching earth♪ ♪Growing thoughts and prayers and feelings and words♪ ♪I been paid to live half the news made in Tennessee♪ ♪To walk the trail of our lead poisoning♪ ♪It’ll steal your children and it’ll rot your teeth♪ ♪Make you numb to the feeling of grieving things♪ ♪And fill you with thoughts♪ ♪and prayers and feelings and words♪ ♪Planting curse seeds in some graveyard dirt♪ ♪What's my body but a piece of aching earth♪ ♪Tired of thoughts and prayers♪ ♪and feelings and words♪ ♪Well I spent these years collecting my check♪ ♪Trading off anger for bits of rest♪ ♪If the work don't kill you♪ ♪then Tennessee will♪ ♪It ain't the way that it is♪ ♪It's the way it's been built♪ ♪My daughter got her daddy back last spring♪ ♪from the belly of a whale that swallowed everything♪ ♪I returned with a rage♪ ♪at what it stole and what I’d seen♪ ♪Maybe rage is the kind of hope that these days need♪♪ That’s “Bottleneck” from Nathan Evans Fox.

You can find out more about Amplified and check out past episodes at wuft.org/amplified I'm Glenn Richards.

Thank you, Nathan Evans Fox for performing.

Thank you for checking us out.

We'll see you next time.