Band with 'worldwide ambitions' and local connections performs Saturday, March 19 at the Uptown in Marble Falls

It has been some years since a locally based Texas Blues Rock band has began taking Texas and beyond by storm.

That has now changed the past year with the forming of Reverend Nathon. Songwriter and guitarist Nathon Dees began his career some 30 years ago and his music styles have gone from Punk to Rock and now onto Blues Rock, which is where the story of Reverend Nathon begins. When Dees moved back to Texas from Costa Rica he continued performing as a solo artist with some ventures on the road with bands Ten Foot Hammer and Thunderosa. It was in Europe while with Thunderosa that Dees first began getting attention as a fireball guitarist.

Eventually settling in Marble Falls, Dees founded The Greater Marble Falls Live Music Society that has supported not only the music scene across the Texas Hill Country, but supports locally based artists and bands as well.

Upon moving to Marble Falls, Dees gained the attention of long time Texas Drummer, Promoter and Kingsland Native Gary Delz.

Delz had heard Dees a few times years back playing in the area and continued to keep up with his endeavors through YouTube videos. Delz had retired in 2019 and moved to the Puerto Vallarta area of Mexico and with another fellow Texan put together an old school Blues band called Bad Habits.

While living down South, Delz struck up an online conversation one day with Dees about his guitar talents and asked Dees if he would ever consider becoming a Texas Blues artist, to which Dees showed a great interest in given being able to hire the right talent to back him.

When Mexico began evacuating Ex-Pats due to the increasing Covid threat, Delz headed back home and immediately met with Dees.

While also in Mexico Delz had listened to and studied the songs that Dees already had in his catalog and the two founded Reverend Nathon. Dees' two Sons, Aaron and Teagan both being really good bass and lead guitarist made finding the third member of the band easy.

The band began readying their first recording and booking Texas shows, and then Covid shut the State and the music industry down.

The band took advantage of the situation and recorded Volume 1 on their own at the DUP Studios near Burnet and began releasing singles online to hundreds of internet radio networks.

Europeans have a love of Texas Music and especially Blues, and networks from the UK to Japan, Germany, Belgium, France, Israel to Ireland and other countries began spinning Reverend Nathon songs in rotation on programming.

Shortly thereafter, Dees and Delz discovered the new Austin Blues Radio Network that features Austin area artists only. Station Program Director Jacques Moreau immediately took a liking to the guitar styles and tone that Dees was using on his recordings and put the band in full daily rotation on the network, once again broadcasting the locally based band worldwide to listeners on playlists that include Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Sue Foley, Omar and The Howlers, Marcia Ball, Gary Clark Jr., and other well known record label Austin artists.

Then in the Fall of 2021 Dees hired Night Train PR based in Philadelphia and shipped out CD's to terrestrial radio stations across the U.S. The band was off to a great national start and in February hit the Roots Music Report Radio Charts.

Second only behind Billboard charting, Roots Music Report charts are based on the spins each station submits each week. Reverend Nathon made their debut on Roots Music Report at #13 on the Top 50 Contemporary Blues Song Chart, above other major Blues artists such as Keb Mo, North Mississippi Allstars, Eric Gales and Samantha Fish.

The band also charted at #28 on the RMR on the National Contemporary Blues Album Chart the same week. Reverend Nathon began receiving rave reviews by music critics from Ireland to California, Netherlands to Florida that included articles in several Blues Music magazines and also were nominated by two publications for Best New Blues Album.

The biggest bump in the road has been trying to find a local venue for the band to play a hometown show at. So far Poodie's Roadhouse in Spicewood and The Pioneer in Fredericksburg has been their closest shows, until now.

The historic Uptown Theater is reopening on Main Street in Marble Falls this month and invited the band to headline their soft opening on Saturday March 19th with quarterly appearances as well. To continue bringing the best in Texas Music and National acts back into the Uptown Theater is the goal of the Uptown management.

The venue will also feature a lobby upscale bar open daily by the end of April. The Uptown will also be featuring weekly shows by local bands and artists into the venue that have been long time favorites in the area sponsored by The Greater Marble Falls Live Music Society.

The Uptown doors will open at 5 p.m. on March 19 featuring singer-songwriter Mel Highsmith followed by a 7 p.m. showcase by Reverend Nathon. Cover is $10 for the show.

For more information on the band go to www.reverendnathan.com.