“A Little Honey,” Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats latest top 20 Adult Alternative hit, has a big sound that includes Rateliff’s signature scorching, soulful vocals, reminding us of Solomon Burke’s 1963 classic “If You Need Me.”
Artists like these pack a lifetime of love and longing into a 3-minute song—their suffering and loneliness are palpable.
Explaining why songs like these appeal to normal people who are more or less happy is beyond my pay grade, but I’m one of those who swoons to this sound, and appreciate this band’s brave commitment to a funky, hip grinding roadhouse sound that isn’t “fashionable” or “hip,” and that one hopes never fully fades away.