WORDS / MORGAN COOK

Fayetteville’s very own Nate Hancock is ready for yet another big year.  After a very successful last couple of years filled with coast-to-coast touring both as a solo artist as well as with The Declaration, Nate Hancock now calls Southern California his home, and is ready to change the music scene for good this year.

“The last few years have been very successful in terms of growth, spiritually, maturity, relationships, and all of the in turn plays a role in my career as well”, Hancock said, and “I’m always trying to better myself in as many dimensions as possible. Health, knowledge, perspectives… I think they all flow together.”

So, how does he plan to make 2014 his best year yet? You might recall Nate Hancock and The Declaration from their song “We The People” released back in 2010 that featured Joey Williams, Grammy winner as well as the lead guitarist for the band Blind Boys of Alabama. Now four years and hundreds of shows later, Hancock and The Declaration are back at it again, this time with their new single and project, “Country Funk.”

After two years in the making, “Country Funk”, the group’s first single to make the final cuts with their new record label Modern Roots, also became their first released single of 2014. Hancock says the song “manifested out of some relationships that have grown over the last two years while I have been living and working out of So-Cal.”

Hancock describes their sound in “Country Funk” as “Blues infusion funk rock with hip-hop styling”, adding that it is “pretty much a story of the last few years and the journey and vibe that molded my style today.”

Produced by Jimmy Sloan of Modern Roots Recording & Publishing, “Country Funk” features the collaborations of Nate Hancock, bassist Norwood Fisher, Rod Stewart’s drummer David Palmer, and Edwin Birdsong on the keys.

Even though “Country Funk” was written and created mostly based off of Hancock’s experiences living in New York and L.A. post his Fayetteville days, he still carries a little bit of Fayetteville around with him in the big cities: “I truly love and cherish Arkansas and especially Fayetteville. The country roots and southern hospitality have impacted me greatly and I really love being abroad and taking a little bit of Arkansas wherever I go and into whatever I do”.

“Country Funk” isn’t the only thing up Hancock’s sleeve; the music video for the single is also set to be released on March 28th by Fallout Entertainment. “I also recorded a full length EP in Brooklyn and that record is ready to release as well. We wanted to build up some momentum with a good single and feature a full music video to intro our sound and scene”.

But Hancock isn’t necessarily “new” to the music scene, because for about the past ten years he’s also been booking, managing, producing and collaborating with other musicians. Hancock is even the Founder and President of his full service management/booking/event and charity based agency called “UniteTheVibe.”

“I book and manage other artists, and the UniteTheVibe profits from those projects are donated to charities. It allows me to give back in a more exponential way. The more artists I book, the more resources we can contribute,” Hancock said.

With all of the exciting things lined up for Hancock in 2014, it’s pretty obvious that the years of hard work leading up to now are soon to pay off. Hancock even says he is “now working on bringing a couple more featured artists to [UniteTheVibe’s] roster as we continue to grow and connect with other artists along the way”. We can’t wait to see how Nate Hancock and all of his projects do this year, and are proud to have him representing all of us back here in his hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

If you would like to learn more about Nate Hancock, see more of his pictures, videos or some live performances, check out his website.

VISIT:  NATEHANCOCK.NET or UNiTETHEViBE.COM

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