Nate Jones wants to open the floodgates.

The Nashville, Tennessee singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who performs as Medicine the Man provides an outpouring of emotion and support on his latest single, “The Dam.”

“It was written remembering the moment of wanting to be done, wanting to give up, and being tired of doing everything on my own. There was so much pressure on my life; I was trying to be what everyone else needed from me and rarely asking for help from others,” said Jones about Medicine the Man’s millennium-rock song.

“I was sitting in my selfishness and misery not realizing how much focus had been on me and still never doing anything to change my position. I was finding ways to avoid the problem instead of facing it.”

Surrounded by weary electric guitar, synth, bass, and drums, he sings, “The waters are rising, a surge is coming / Storms on horizon, to purge the violence / Oh, maybe I just let it break / Let this river sweep me away.”

“Writing ‘The Dam’ was a release itself. I was finally admitting what I’d always known—that I couldn’t do this by myself. I need community, and I need a stronger reliance on my Creator and less of a reliance on me,” Jones said.

“I hope that when others hear this song it brings to the surface some of the same feelings we bury. I hope this helps people to be honest with themselves and starts the conversation that says, ‘I need help; I could use support.’”

After writing “The Dam,” Jones worked with producer/percussionist-drummer Jerry Fee and guitarist Oscar Sosa to transform it into a powerful rock track.

“Once we took it into pre-production, Jerry and I had a lot of conversations about the direction. The drop C guitar in the second half of the song adds grit to the track, and the verses were entirely reformed melodically to fit the concepts that Jerry had in mind,” he said.

“Once we got Oscar into the room, he opened up the gates on the rock guitars and brought a lot to the sonic space. This song has far exceeded my expectations and hits me in the gut every time with the feelings I had when creating it.”

“The Dam” also serves as the third single from Medicine the Man, which Jones started in 2022 after the Americana duo Athens Creek amicably parted ways.

“I had this concept for Medicine the Man and it’s about bringing healing, rest, and community—it’s like church outside of church. Three years ago, I wrote down the name, I set it aside, and I said, ‘This is what it’s going to be about.’ It’s morphing as we go and we’ve left it open,” said Jones, who relocated from Metro Detroit to Nashville late last year.

“It’s the first time I’m actively saying, ‘I want to collaborate,’ whether it’s with my producer or with my wife [Miranda Jones] who’s doing the marketing for it. We have a long-term vision for it … We want it to start with music, but we would love for it to be about mental health.”

Haunted and Ignite (Fire)

As part of that vision, Jones also explores the role of mental health on Medicine the Man’s “Haunted,” a cathartic tale about processing the grief and heartbreak associated with losing a loved one.

Immersed in spooky synth and anxious electric guitar, bass, and drums, Jones sings, “Every night I’m kept awake / By every sigh and scream you made / These four walls all look the same / Every hall still knows your name.”

“I lost two sisters—[Selah] was eight when she died and [Amber] was 23. We knew Selah had been struggling because she had Down syndrome … and she had complications from leukemia. But then Amber passed in her sleep and she had nothing really wrong with her,” said Jones, who was raised with 11 siblings.

“This song has brought me a lot of catharsis through working it out and finding the right metaphor that most people can relate to. This is why community is so important to me with what we’re doing. All of us are grieving and we each grieve differently.”

Next, Jones advocates taking charge of your life and starting a new chapter on Medicine the Man’s “Ignite (Fire).” Fueled by spirited electric guitar, synth, bass, and drums, he sings, “So like a Phoenix we will rise, leaving stardust in the sky / The sparks will flutter in the night, upon the ground they will ignite.”

“I wrote that song in 2020 when everybody said, ‘Hey, I need a restart.’ For me, I had just come out of a divorce and then the whole world was crashing around us,” Jones said.

“It came at a perfect time for me to record it when my wife and I decided to come to Nashville. We said, ‘Let’s make life happen, and let’s not just let life happen to us. What would we do if we chose it?’”

“Ignite (Fire)” also features an uplifting chorus of guest vocalists from the Monroe 2|42 Community Church in Monroe, Michigan, and The Extreme Tour in Columbia, Tennessee along with producer Jerry Fee and his daughter.

“We got all those extra voices at the end of the song to make it anthemic,” said Jones, who’s inspired by The Killers and Imagine Dragons. “I wanted it to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t about me; it’s about all of us. How many voices can we get here? This is a song for everybody and let’s cheer each other on.’”

The Creative Process, Shows, and New Material

Like “The Dam,” Jones recorded “Haunted,” “Ignite (Fire),” and two other upcoming Medicine the Man singles with Fee in February and March.

During the recording process, Jones and Fee brought Medicine the Man’s songs to life across several studios, including Two Cats Music in Thompsons Station, Tennessee; a rented Airbnb in Franklin, Tennessee; and a church basement in Columbia, Tennessee. They also collaborated with guitarist Oscar Sosa on “Ignite (Fire)” and violinist Avia on some of the tracks.

“It was me saying yes to things I probably wouldn’t have normally said yes to if I had just had the reins myself. Jerry took the creative part of what I was doing and just made it better,” said Jones, who met Fee in 2020 when Athens Creek participated in The Extreme Tour.

“It was a lot of fun to see the vision play out and be mobile while doing this project. We knew what the intent was—it was to help people heal and find joy in music.”

Jones also spreads that healing and joy through upcoming live shows, including August 30 at Stones River Country Club in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; September 12 at Sam Hill in Ann Arbor, Michigan; September 27 at Northville Winery and Brewing Company in Northville, Michigan; and October 18 at 2|42 Community Church in Monroe, Michigan.

“The September 12 show is a solo one and the one on September 27 is with a band,” he said. “I’ll also be performing multiple fundraiser events over the next six weeks to get me back in the studio in late September to do more of my singer-songwriter-style music with a band under the name, Nate Jones.”

In the meantime, Jones plans to release two new Medicine the Man singles this fall—“Oh Mercy (Swift Justice)” and “Ever After”—and focus on writing and recording more material.

“I want this project to be collaborative and I needed to have music out because no one knew what the brand was and the intentions were,” he said.

“I’m going to work with a different producer to wrap up the next section of this, so I do intend to release this either as an EP or a full-length album.”