Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats' "Hey Mama" pays tribute to the resilience and wisdom of mothers, and in the song's new music video, the band features their own real-life mothers in a touching day-in-the-life montage filled with intimate family photos and home videos.
Directed by frequent collaborator and onetime band member Rett Rogers, "Hey Mama" follows the mothers of Rateliff and bassist Joseph Pope III – Sandy and Diane, respectively – in the two band members' hometown of Hermann, Missouri, as they go to work. Interspersed with scenes of the two women – a seamstress and a fry cook – at work are snippets of other family members like grandmothers, wives and children. Set against blue-collar and sometimes dreary imagery, the song's lyrics take on a deeper, more poignant meaning: "You ain't worked hard enough, you ain't run far enough to say it ain't gonna get any better," Rateliff's mother cautions him.
"Hey Mama" is featured on the Night Sweats' new LP Tearing at the Seams, which was released by Stax Records in March and climbed to Number 11 on the Billboard 200. Rateliff and co. play the Ritz in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 9th.