Israel Nash (born January 5, 1981) is the recording and performing stage name moniker of American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Israel Nash Gripka.

Career

Originally from Missouri, Nash moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2006. Nash performed in clubs on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

such as

The Living Room The Living Room was a music venue on Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was originally established on Stanton Street of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City in 1988. The Living Room was co-owned ...

and Rockwood Music Hall. In 2009, he independently released his debut solo album, ''New York Town'', which was recorded at The Magic Shop in New York's SoHo neighborhood. ''New York Town'' was eventually picked up by Dutch label Continental Records Services in Europe and the UK. His second album, ''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'', was released on March 29, 2011. The album was recorded during the summer of 2010 on a small farm located in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Nash recruited

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

Steve Shelley Steven Jay Shelley (born June 23, 1962) is an American drummer. He is best known as the longtime drummer of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, for whom he played from 1985 until their 2011 disbandment. Biography Shelley was born in Midland, ...

to co-produce the album and play drums on all the tracks. Ted Young engineered the album. For this album, Nash drew from his circle of friends to form his backing band including Joey McClellan ( Midlake, The Fieros) on lead guitar, Aaron McClellan ( The Fieros) on bass guitar, and Eric Swanson on bass,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, and banjo. Released by Continental Record Services, the album garnered further attention in Europe and the UK and received positive reviews in publications like

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

. ''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'' was also chosen as the top album of 2011 by the Euro Americana Charts. Extensive touring in Europe in support of ''Barn Doors'' helped Nash gain greater exposure. In late 2011, Nash left New York City and moved to

Dripping Springs, Texas Dripping Springs is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,650 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Geography Dripping Springs is in northern Hays County on U.S. Route 290, which l ...

. His third record, Israel Nash's ''Rain Plans'', was recorded in the summer of 2012. ''Rain Plans'' was produced by Nash and again engineered by Ted Young. The album was tracked on a Studer 16-track 2" analog tape machine intentionally avoiding the use of modern digital recording technology. Nash's house outside of Dripping Springs served as the studio and residence for the band during the recording session. The band consisted of Nash's touring lineup from the Barn Doors album cycle, including drummer Josh Fleischmann, Joey and Aaron McClellan on guitar and bass (respectively), and Eric Swanson on

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

. Released by the London label

Loose Music Loose is a British independent record label based in Ladbroke Grove, London. In 1998, Loose was formed from the vinyl only record label, Vinyl Junkie, which was set up in 1994 by Tom Bridgewater. Loose Music – About Since 1998, Loose has re ...

on September 30, 2013, the album received generally positive reviews from the European press. In 2014, ''Rain Plans'' was released in the US by

through Nashville based label services company

Thirty Tigers Thirty Tigers is an American music marketing, distribution and management company for independent artists, based in Nashville. History The company was founded in 2002 by David Macias and Deb Markland and is distributed by The Orchard. In 20 ...

. It quickly became a favorite on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and several non-commercial radio stations such as

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in indie music programmed by its disc jockeys. KEXP's studios are located at the Seattle Cent ...

in Seattle,

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format sh ...

in Philadelphia,

KUTX KUTX (98.9 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Leander, Texas and serving the greater Austin, Texas area with an adult album alternative format. The station is owned by University of Texas at Austin with headquarters at the Belo ...

in Austin, and The Current in Minneapolis-St. Paul. In January 2015, Israel Nash was featured on a session of World Cafe. The title track was featured in the film Captain Fantastic. Nash and his band recorded ''Silver Season'' on tape at Nash's Texas ranch in 2015 which was released October 2015 to critical acclaim. Christina Applegate named it her favorite album of the year. ''Classic Rock'' magazine considered it "even more exquisite" than ''Rain Plans''. ''Q'' magazine highlighted its "subtly political messages", while ''Uncut'' called it "a terrific album". 'Mojo'' praised its "cosmic poetry, crunching guitars and swooning pedal steel". On November 4, 2016, Nash and The Bright Light Social Hour released the three-song collaborative EP ''Neighbors''. The EP was recorded between the two bands' studios near Austin, and was released digitally and as a limited edition 7" vinyl record.

Discography

Studio albums

*''New York Town'' (2009) *''Barn Doors and Concrete Floors'' (2011) *''Rain Plan
(Israel Nash Gripka Israel Nash's Rain Plans album)
' (2013) *''Israel Nash's Silver Season'' (2015) *'' Lifted'' (2018) *''

Topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral made of aluminium, aluminum and fluorine with the chemical formula aluminium, Alsilicon, Sioxygen, O(fluorine, F, hydroxide, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural ...

'' (2021) *'' Ozarker'' (2023)

Live albums

*''2011 Barn Doors Spring Tour: Live in Holland'' (2011) *''Across the Water: Live in Europe'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Working Class Hero and Other Favorites'' (2011) * ''From The Other Side Of The Barn'' (2012) * ''See The Beauty That Surrounds You'' (2014) *''Neighbors'' EP with The Bright Light Social Hour (2016) *''Topaz'' EP (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Israel American male singer-songwriters 1981 births Living people Guitarists from Texas American male guitarists People from Dripping Springs, Texas 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Texas