The Nashville-based singer-songwriter who launched his career in the Grand Rapids area has a new studio EP and plays SpeakEZ Lounge on Wednesday with tunesmith Jessica Pounds.
Unique Duo: Nathan Kalish and his singer-songwriter wife, Jessica Pounds. (Courtesy Photo)
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Suffice to say, Nathan Kalish has been around the block — and around the globe — with his gritty and psychedelic Americana music.
Since launching his career in the Grand Rapids area about two decades ago, the singer-songwriter has hit the road with a variety of outfits — The Deadstring Brothers, The Lastcallers and, most recently, The Derechos.
But with a new EP under his belt, “Southern Poverty Guitar Center,” released on the Yellow Canary Music record label, Kalish also has performed regularly with his wife and tunesmith Jessica Pounds — a show they’ll unfurl during a special homecoming Wednesday night at Grand Rapids’ SpeakEZ Lounge as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series.
“I have a good time in Grand Rapids and there are usually a few friends that come out and maybe 20 to 60 other folks depending on the venue. It’s always a good time,” Kalish said.
“Grand Rapids was a good place to learn a lot of valuable lessons and I’m glad I learned them there with a bunch of pals.”
LISTEN: Nathan Kalish, “Ma Dude” (from “Southern Poverty Guitar Center”)
Kalish and Pounds got married a year ago in Sweden after meeting in Kansas City, with Kalish describing Pounds’ music as “kinda like an Americana Kate Bush, but still very unique to her own sound. I’ve never heard anyone sing like her.”
On Wednesday, the duo “will play a few other songs and a few of mine and sing together a bunch,” Kalish said.
Nathan Kalish: Returns to Michigan this week. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Those Kalish songs will include tracks from the EP he released in May — a commentary on “how the music industry has turned the musician into the product and then also the customer.”
It’s also another foray into what Kalish describes as “wild, psychedelic country rock music.”
He performs regularly in Nashville, noting that his move to Music City several years ago has been “real good to me. It stretches me and gives me plenty of opportunities to play music in front of people who come to hear music from everywhere.”
He also rolls out more than 50 shows a year with his band, The Derechos, and supplements his income by running a Christmas light installing business.
As for 2025, Kalish said it’s “looking like more shows and, hopefully, more music.”
VIDEO: “Songs for Nobody,” Nathan Kalish and Jessica Pounds
LISTEN: Jessica Pounds, “Starlight Silhouette”
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