Lee DeWyze w/ Nathaniel Riley

Lee DeWyze emerged from Chicago’s rich music scene with a voice and songwriting shaped by intimacy, restraint, and lived experience.  

After years spent honing his craft in local rooms, his work reached a national audience when he won American Idol - a moment that marked not a culmination, but a beginning. 

Intent on defining himself beyond the television spotlight, DeWyze turned inward, committing fully to his roots in songwriting as both discipline, a compass, and a devotional practice.  

That commitment crystallized with his debut album Frames, marking the beginning of a body of work rooted in emotional honesty and nuance. Across four full-length records, DeWyze has maintained an exceptionally prolific output, cultivating a catalog that balances indie sensibility with broad emotional reach. 

Equally central to his career is his reputation as a live performer. For more than fifteen years, DeWyze has toured internationally, building a devoted following through performances defined by emotional gravity and quiet intensity. His shows favor connection over spectacle. His songs are delivered with vulnerability, space, and an instinctive understanding of when to let silence speak. Whether in intimate venues or on larger stages, his performances are often described as disarmingly personal, leaving audiences feeling less like spectators and more like participants. 

DeWyze’s music exists in a space where intimacy and craft quietly command attention. His work has drawn comparisons to Iron & Wine and The Paper Kites, artists known for atmosphere and emotional precision. Rooted in early influences such as Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, all the way to Elliott Smith, his songwriting favors nuance over excess—melodies that unfold patiently, lyrics that reward close listening. 

At the same time, there is a grounded, soulful weight to his delivery that recalls the emotional directness of Chris Stapleton. The result is a sound that feels both hushed and powerful—almost as if Chris Stapleton meets Gregory Alan Isakov—where raw feeling is filtered through elegance, and songs linger long after they end. While shaped by Americana and indie traditions, DeWyze’s music isn’t bound by genre—its emotional clarity allows listeners with broad and varied musical tastes to find their way in. 

Now based in Los Angeles, DeWyze has entered his next chapter with renewed focus and creative momentum. His latest album, Gone For Days, captures a period of reflection, clarity, and forward motion—true to the Americana genre, yet married to lyric-driven emotional storytelling. 

Whether experienced live or heard in moments of quiet reflection, Lee DeWyze’s work continues to resonate—defined by emotional honesty, prolific songwriting, and performances that linger long after the final note.

https://leedewyzeofficial.com/

Nathaniel Riley, a folk singer/songwriter from South Dakota, put in his time working the small family farm and recording melancholic melodies in his basement. Treading with years of grief that constructed a cloud full of songs that Nathaniel lugged to Colorado began the process of his debut full length album, “Bird Songs”

Nathaniel’s songscapes lean on your heartstrings, unpacking melodies like a nostalgic lucid dream. Acoustically driven, wistful lyricism and ambient instrumentation provide the bedrock for his contemporary folktales. Compiling miles of desolation, heartache, introspection and memories of the forest and the prairie’s whistle that convey him to persist. Empowering his songs their role, to be a beacon on the hill. 

The sound and songs arrived abundantly, easily and honestly. Nathaniel began recording his album “Bird Songs”, with Aaron Youngberg at Swingfingers Recording Studios in Fort Collins, Colorado in September of 2020.

Darren Garvey came on as a producer for the record, bringing a grass-roots perspective and an experimental, contemporary ear. 

“I always loved pushing the boundaries of genres and wanted to create something familiar to myself in a couple different ways. One of which was to bring ambient ethereal sounds to the record that may not be commonly found on records claiming to be primarily folk,” says Riley. 

“I love the process of recording and the almost immortal aspect it provides,” Riley says. “You will forever hear the person’s skin on the strings, the breath before they sing. Living proof of somebody being alive, and it remains there, like a little memory box of sound forever. Itself, never changing.”

https://www.nathanielrileymusic.com/