Rural to Urban (click on title of article to view on High Plains Reader website)
By Gordon Christensen
Contributing Writer
Some would call it a leap of faith to leave something secure and safe to pursue a vision or a dream that offers no promise or guarantee of security or success. It takes an inner resolve and belief in your ability and talent to take that step or leap. It’s a mighty leap, I know.
To come from a rural area of North Dakota and make the leap to the urban world of Minneapolis, California and New York is what Nate West did. Rural… to… urban. Now, after several years of examining the steps he took and reflecting upon those steps, he speaks. These days Nate makes a statement and asks a question. UR. RU? That combination of rural and urban has led him to coin the phrase “nabruralfolk” as the description of his music.
Nate West was raised near Minot, ND and moved to Fargo-Moorhead after graduation to attend MSUM. It was here he saw and learned to appreciate the likes of Josh Harty, Brooks West and Mason Jennings. To this day he credits Mason Jennings as his biggest influence in the way of making himself in the entertainment industry on his own terms. Rural to urban.
He graduated from MSUM and took a position as a high school English teacher in Bakersfield, California. Rural to Urban. At age 23, he started to play guitar and dabble in songwriting, using his life’s adventures as inspiration. The process continued to grow as did his incorporated film company, Nodak Films. Through the years, with stops in New York, Minneapolis and back to California, he became free to discontinue teaching and devote his time to his visions and dreams… music and film.
Even with all the travels that took him miles from North Dakota, he still retains the soul and heart of his home, and it is reflected in his music and in his films. He has released his first recording, “The Old Later,” a live performance from Nomad Café in Oakland, CA. The songs are real life… his home, his children, his friend killed in Iraq, Gary Indiana and, of course, Fargo. These are real people and real places, expressed in real songs with real emotions.
These are songs that “everyman” can relate to and that same “everyman” can identify the feelings expressed in the songs within themselves. Nate is a man that clearly has a vision and a dream that is quickly turning to reality. He has developed the confidence in his material that allows him to take the next very difficult step up in the entertainment world. He does so with no fear or trepidation… only the heart and soul and ebb and flow of rural and urban experiences.
Nate will be returning to the Midwest to perform for the first time next week. He flies in to Minneapolis to play the Acadia Café on the15th and then here in Fargo at the Red Raven on the 16th and Zandbroz on the 17th. The tour continues to Bismarck and eventually back home to Minot for dates on the 22nd and 23rd. It should be a grand event as Nate returns home to perform his music for the first time since he took that leap of faith. Now he seems safe and secure but in a much different manner than the years past when he wore dress shoes and earned a daily wage. Rural to Urban to Rural.
You can find information about Nate, his schedule, and purchase his CD on his web site,
http://www.nabruralfolk.com. He will also be showcasing his film company, a company that plans to incorporate and showcase North Dakota talent, at the North Dakota State Fair this summer. You have two chances here in Fargo to check him out. Do it!
High Plains Reader is a great newspaper. Check them out!
