For so many songwriters and musicians, especially those who have made their way as independent artists, the pandemic-induced shutdowns of 2020 unexpectedly led to fruitful months where both time and inspiration were readily abundant.
With touring out of the question and Nashville’s music industry shutdown, singer-songwriter Nick Nace decided to return to his native Canada to be close to family and familiarity during that unprecedented period. He discovered quickly that the months ahead would prove a creatively fertile time. As he found his bearings in Canada, Nace had just turned 40, and he couldn’t help but assess his past and present. This is when the songs for The Harder Stuff, his latest full-length album, began to take shape.
“I had to quarantine to even get into Canada,” Nace says. “So, I had nothing but free time alone, which also meant I had the freedom to work on music every day in a way that I’d never had before.”
So, sure, The Harder Stuff, is Nace’s “pandemic record.” But only one song in the new collection directly tackles those dramatic, traumatic early days. “There’s No Music in Music City” is about exactly what it seems like it would be. It’s a hazy, dreamlike look into what it was like when a once-bustling town, brimming with songs wafting through the air that fell so stunningly silent. But to be certain, this record isn’t about the pandemic. Similar to the way the best sports movies aren’t about the actual games and scores, but the lives of those who play, The Harder Stuff is about all of us.
“The record is really about relationships,” Nace says. “It’s about how tricky and absurd and beautiful it is to just be a human on a day-to-day basis and how the past couple of years have really brought us, and me especially, face to face with what I call ‘the harder stuff.’”
The Harder Stuff also gives the listener more proof into how insightful of a storyteller Nace truly is. Taking feelings and thoughts from his own life and arranging them into the views and perspectives of other characters is a skill he’s only honed more sharply since his last album.
What is an album for a songwriter if it’s not an artistic expression of the artist’s view of himself? The Harder Stuff is Nick Nace. It gives us who he was before and during the tough times we’ve all endured, and hopefully, what he’ll be down the road.
More info at: www.nicknace.com/about
