[1] Nail played guitar and wrote songs in several bands including Dustin Welch, The Sideshow Tragedy and Liars and Saints (with Johnny Goudie and Kacy Crowley).
His debut album Letter (2007) was described by the Austin Chronicle as “a diverse, gripping listen, one that's centered around his ability to capture waking moments with intensity.
Shortly thereafter, Nail was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer that had wrapped around his left leg over the course of four months.
Curtin wrote, "Pastoral and poetic, the new album – arriving August 17 – finds the native Texan from Albany ever reflective and resilient, breathing in life’s landscapes, literal and figurative, and exhaling a peaceful sense of place.
"One constant that extends from “My Mountain” to his new “Live Oak,” is the prominence of the natural world in the songs Nail writes.