Nathan Alan: Musician

What instruments do you play?

NA: I play guitar, violin, piano, mandolin and banjo, but I mostly play my guitar and violin. I started playing violin when I was in fourth grade and I was in a bunch of orchestras until high school when my dad gave me his old guitar. Then, I taught myself how to play that. And, that’s when I started writing songs.

How would you describe your sound and love for music?

NA: I’d say my music is straight up folk. I write about what I know: my family, my home, my friends. I feel like there are a lot of great songs about external stories, but I try to make my songs pretty personal. Music is my passion. It’s something that’s interweaved and embedded in my everyday life. It’s not my job. I work a day job, I go to school, but it’s something that is very important to me. A lifestyle is a great way to put it.

How did you become a part of the music scene here at MSU?

NA: The summer after high school I settled on the idea of being a singer/songwriter. I had a couple songs that I wanted to record and made a rough EP. It was more of just a way to present myself as a musician once I got down here. When I got here, I started talking to people and promoting my EP. I got in touch with the people at IMPACT F.M., local record stores and some musicians I knew already in the Lansing area. I found it really easy to come down here to connect and be accepted. The first show I played in East Lansing was at the Record Lounge, they always do small acoustic shows. At that point, just from playing a small show, I met a lot of great people that I stay connected with. It opened up many doors for me.

Describe the best song you’ve written.

NA: I’m actually working on an album that I’m hoping will be released in May on nathanalanmusic.com. There’s a song on it called “Broken Boards” that is about my experiences at home and at Michigan State. I talk a lot about where I grew up. I come from a really beautiful place. For me, this song is a very visual song. There are some really vivid lines that I try to get across. I try to create visual lyrics. I don’t necessarily write a song and attempt to connect all the words in one type of story. There’s always a theme. I try to write lyrics that bite at the listener,  that create a vivid mental picture and put you in that spot, but not necessarily with my same feelings. I feel like that makes a song last a lot longer when you take something from it that you didn’t feel directly.  I just put a feeling out there and let people swim around in that feeling.

Is there any connection between geology and music for you?

NA: I chose my major because I love the outdoors. I wanted an environmentally based degree so I could have a job that doesn’t require me to sit at a desk all day. My intentions are to get a degree that will grant me a semi-comfortable job afterwards. I don’t want to look at the rocks and mountains 24/7, but I’d love to live in more of a rural setting and still have the time to make music. The plan is to get a job that supports my music. I know that it doesn’t pay very well and it’s difficult to make it a full-time thing, but some of my favorite singer/songwriters have day jobs. They write beautiful music, yet they live two totally different lives. That’s what I want to do. I feel like when you have another life it gives you more to write about. You live harder so it gives you more to say.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

NA: My idea of success is that I can go to any city in the U.S. and enough people have heard my music through the grapevine so I can attract 20-30 people to a show. The goal is to go somewhere I’ve never been and discover people that have stumbled across my music somehow. That’s not necessarily fame, but that’s success for me. Even if that’s not where I am in ten years, I won’t care. I’ll still be writing songs and saying what I have to say. It’s just my way of coping.