Country singer-songwriter David Nail is asking God for help with something bigger than his next show: being a more patient dad.
“I don’t want the wound to ever heal, but I also don’t want the wound to prevent me from being a good parent,” Nail told “The Upload” podcast host Brooke Taylor, reflecting on his mother’s death.
The father of three talked about the pull between missing his mom and showing up for his own children. He isn’t pretending that grief disappears when the school morning starts.
Instead, he described asking for prayer at church for more patience, whether work stress or grief was wearing him down. The request was practical: guidance for the moments when the people he loves need more from him than a hurried, frustrated response.
That same family life is giving him reasons to stop and notice what he already has. Nail recalled walking his children to school, then calling his wife afterward with a thought that had nothing to do with ticket sales.
“I just can’t believe them kids are mine,” he remembered telling her.
Related: Blake Shelton Talks Faith, Fatherhood and the Future of His Career
For someone accustomed to moving straight from one professional milestone to the next, an ordinary Monday felt different. He connected that growing awareness of joy to a sermon series he had heard, while acknowledging that he hasn’t mastered slowing down.
His gratitude for fatherhood has a long history. In a separate interview with PEOPLE, Nail previously discussed the fertility struggles he and his wife, Catherine, faced and explained that all three of their children came through IVF. He also described recognizing his own sensitive, shy temperament in his son.
Now, losing his mother has added another layer to how he thinks about parenting. In the conversation with Taylor, Nail reflected on how having children helped him understand his own parents’ love — and how painful it is to imagine his children someday experiencing a loss like his.
Those questions run through his music, too. His album Flowers, released Aug. 21, carries a dedication to his mother and features her handwriting in its title artwork, according to the album’s release announcement.
That personal approach carries into his Down To The Studs Tour, which the album announcement describes as a solo outing built around a guitar, stories and songs. The smaller setup gives him room to share the experiences behind the music.
The closing track, “Riverbank,” features singer-songwriter Lori McKenna, as Nail’s official music catalog confirms. He explained to Taylor that he wants to finish his shows with the song so that, if anything ever happened to him, his wife and children would know his final performance ended with a song he wrote about them.
“This is how I provided for you and the last time I ever did it is a song I wrote about you,” he said, describing the message he wants to leave his family.
It’s a different measure of success from the next venue or career milestone. Nail still has music to make, but his prayer reaches into the less glamorous work waiting at home: loving his children well, even on the days he aches for his mom.
Read Next: Colton Dixon Shares Joy of Fatherhood: ‘There’s Nothing I Wouldn’t Do for Them’
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
