the song I almost didn't finish

I have been working on a song for longer than I want to admit.

It started as a voice memo at 1am, the way most of my songs do. I was sitting in my car after a late night at the funeral home, thinking about the people who keep me tethered. Not in a poetic way. In the realest way. The names I say to myself when the ground gets unsteady.

You probably have names like that too. People who are doing quiet, lifesaving work and might not even know it.

Every funeral I direct reminds me that the hardest part is never the goodbye itself. It is the moment after, when someone realizes they have to keep going. And the thing that carries them forward is almost always a name. A face. A voice they can still hear saying "I am here."

That is what this song is about. It is called Names I'll Never Lose, and it comes out August 14.

I am not asking you to listen because I made it. I am asking because I think you have names like that too. Names you whisper to yourself on the hard days. Names that are doing quiet, invisible, lifesaving work and will never know it unless you tell them.

Right now I am in the middle of a 10-day countdown to the release. Every day through July 31, a short video is dropping that shares a piece of what this song means to me. If you have been following along, thank you. If you are just finding out, you are right on time.

If you want to be one of the first to hear it the moment it lands, you can pre-save it here:

And here is the part I am most excited about. If you pre-save through that link, I want to give you something back. A free month inside The Mortals, our Tuesday night community where we show up for each other and feel things out loud. No performance. No pressure. Just a room full of people who decided that carrying each other counts for something.

Claim your free month here: https://tr.ee/n2KbAZ (use code NINLFREE)

I do not take it lightly that you open these letters. You being here, reading this, means something to me. It means you are one of the names on my list too.

With hope,
Nathan

P.S. The countdown videos are dropping daily through July 31. If one of them hits you, send it to someone who needs to hear it. That is how the right music finds the right people.