Talented Greenbrier Valley musician Nathan Seldomridge recently released his first single, Broken Pieces, in December 2023. Nathan is also part of last month’s featured band, Deep State. I recently spoke to Nathan about his musical success, and what inspires him to create and play the notes that speak to his audience.

Please tell us who you are and where you’re from.
My name is Nathan Seldomridge. I’m a musician. I play guitar, I sing, I write songs. I’ve been doing it for almost ten years now. I’ve been playing out professionally in some capacity, and it’s my favorite thing to do on the earth.

Why choose the Greenbrier Valley?
This is the hometown for me. My parents are here, I’ve been here since a young age. I think the really great thing about the music industry is, especially in the past decade or so, is it’s almost a location- independent type of job. Especially with modern recording technology you’re able to have studios, and they’re able to put out a pretty good product out there on their own. So now, with a good website, and good material online, you’re able to book shows from anywhere, if you’re willing to travel around. I also love this place. West Virginia is a special part of the world. I have been really fortunate and blessed to have been able to travel all over the place, but this is still one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. Also, the people of West Virginia are incredibly kind, generous, sweet-hearted, and selfless. I’ve been here for most of my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Living in a town like Lewisburg, you really get to know people. So you really feel tied in to the community here. At this point in my life, this is
where my roots are, so I really feel a special connection to the place and the people here.

What all do you do musically?
I’m in a few different projects here around the area, one of them being Deep State. I’m also in an interesting project called Seldom Free, which is with one of my best friends, Dan Freeman, and I, and occasionally we have other people come up and join us too for a full band experience. But I really think of it in terms of scratching itches. As a musician, there’s no one particular musical genre that scratches all of those itches for me. My songwriting is sort of its own beast, but I also really love music that’s along the same vein as jam band music, which has a heavy focus on improvisation. For a singer/songwriter, that type of genre doesn’t really lend itself toward the freeform extended improvisational things, so I involve myself in different projects so I can scratch those itches, so to speak.

What got you into the music scene?
Really, it’s my love for music. I started playing music when I was twelve years old, and I can’t remember exactly at what point in time it was, probably when I was eighteen or nineteen years old, I started to realize that I love it more than anything else. It’s the passion, it’s what drives me as a human being. So, I think then the question becomes, “How can I do this all the time?” My favorite part of making music is the live experience. It’s being able to interact with the crowd, it’s being able to network and meet people, and build those connections that way. I’m not there fully yet, but I hope to sometime within the next year make it officially the only thing that I do for a living.

Can you tell us a little about your single?
I just dropped my first single, which is called Broken Pieces, on December first. It’s been out for a couple of months, and I am really thrilled at the reaction that I’ve seen from people. It’s very nerve wracking, because the place that I try to write from, the most honest place that I can, involves some level of

vulnerability, of being open enough with yourself, and searching deep enough to feel completely reflective of what it is you’re going through, and what it is that you’re trying to say. It’s hard to put that out, because it’s almost like, at some level, if people don’t like the song, it’s almost like they don’t like my experiences from my perspective. I know that’s not true, because of course style and genre plays into it, and people aren’t going to resonate with everything. But I think that’s why it has taken me so long to put something out there. It’s a hard experience, taking a conversation that you might have with a therapist, and putting it out for the whole world to hear. I also struggle with perfectionism as an artist, because I feel like things have to be technically perfect. When I was recording the vocals for my single in Memphis with Matt Ross-Spang, I became very discouraged because things didn’t sound how I wanted them to. Matt said something along the lines of art being a reflection of a moment in time. That really resonated with me. The perspective that I’ve tried to adopt is that anything that I do, it’s permanent in the sense that I’m putting it out there, but it’s also just a reflection of that period, and that moment in time. If you can just reflect it as accurately as you can, then I think that’s enough.

Where can we find your single?
Anywhere you stream music.
Editor’s note, courtesy of Nathan: This link can take people to a landing page with Nathan’s social media
and streaming links.

Is there anything else you’d like for us to know?
Listen to the song, and if you resonate with it, and you enjoy it, more stuff is on the way. What I’m trying to do is just capture a moment in time in the best way that I can, and with the most sincerity that I’m able to, and I hope that it resonates with people.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?
Keep going. There are always going to be roadblocks, there are always going to be things that stand in your way, and there are going to be challenges that you would anticipate having. There are also going to be challenges that you don’t anticipate having. It’s learning to control what you can, and giving the rest up, and going with the flow. I’m constantly learning. I’m constantly struggling, and I’m constantly reevaluating. A thing that I’ve learned about myself is being willing to adapt, and being open has served me best.

You can find Nathan on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, all under the name Nathan Seldomridge.
He will also be performing with Deep State at the Wild Bean on Saturday, February 24, at an
undetermined time at time of press.