Hardship, Heartache, and Horse Thieves; How a Ranch Kid Beat Cancer and Became a Music Producer

By Mackenzie Johnston

Music has always been a part of Nathan Kissack’s life. From his younger days of singing to Clint Black, to high school choir, to being in a country/punk band in college, his passion for music runs deep.

Nathan grew up on a ranch outside of Gillette, WY where his family raised cattle. After high school he attended the University of Wyoming. He made Laramie his home once his days of being a student came to an end, but eventually decided to go back home and take over the family operation, which at that point was a ranch his folks bought south of Spotted Horse, WY.

Nathan was home only a year before he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive blood cancer called T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. He spent time in the Gillette intensive care unit before ending up at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Denver for 100 days straight. Eventually he was able to return to Gillette, complete chemotherapy and beat cancer.

Today, Nathan resides in California with his girlfriend, Julia. In June of last year, he went back to school and graduated on December 10, 2021, with a degree in audio engineering. While in school, Nathan was required to produce, engineer, record and mix a few songs as a capstone project, so he decided to produce an album. Being in California, over a thousand miles away from his family and friends, he had his cowboy friends, who happen to be in the music industry, visit to maintain sanity and assist with putting the album together. At the same time, he also reached out to a couple of Texas bands that have a large audience in the Texas country music scene. He included a single from every artist on the album and incorporated all the artists in a group song titled “Roan and Rope”, which ended up being about hanging California horse thieves; rather humorous considering the song was recorded in California. 

Nathan titled the album Hardship, Heartache, and Horse Thieves. Those included on the album are Kolton Moore and the Clever Few, Sam Munsick, Jordan Lisco, Tris Munsick and the Innocents, Kalyn Beasely, Jordan Smith, Sam Riggs and Gabriel the Bull. The album is set to be released early March and the music video for the group song will be released mid-March. 

Hardship, Heartache, and Horse Thieves is centered around Wyoming with all the artists calling Wyoming home besides Kolton Moore and Sam Riggs, who are both from Texas. Nathan felt this aspect of the album was essential because his home state has untapped potential for a legitimate music scene, but the issue is most of the guys on the album are real cowboys and they don’t have the necessary time for promotion or touring. 

It’s fair to say that those included on the album play a different kind of country music; some may refer to it as outlaw or western country. Whatever you call it, the artists’ passion shines through their music and speaks to their fans. Tris Munsick, who has been involved in the music business in some form or another most his life, understands that not everyone will relate to their music, but Tris and his band stay true to those who do relate. “I try to be honest in my songwriting, and our audience reflects that honesty. I once heard the difference between pop and country music described as "pop music is a mile wide and an inch deep, while country runs deep and narrow." The meaning of this being pop music needs to be accessible to as many people as possible, and because of that, you can't dive too deep into any specific subjects. Country music, on the other hand, dives straight to the most vulnerable parts of us and brings them to the surface; it hits hard with its intended audience,” said Tris.

Being a part of the outlaw country music scene means that you don’t conform to the writing style that Nashville wants. Jordan Smith believes the future looks bright for those wanting to write authentic outlaw country music, such as himself and the other artists included on this album. “I feel people are starting to catch on to the real essence of the honesty in outlaw country,” said Smith. Being a part of Hardship, Heartache, and Horse Thieves has been an honor for Smith. It allowed him to develop friendships with other artists he didn’t know prior, and it also gave him the opportunity to co-write the group song with his wife and Jordan Lisco. 

In celebration of the album, an album release show is set for March 26th at the Cowboy Saloon and Dancehall in Laramie, WY. Tris Munsick will headline the event and all the artists on the album will perform excluding Sam Riggs and Kolton Moore. Additionally, Nathan will be flying out some session players, singers, producers, and engineers who contributed hours upon hours for the album to perform the song line with the artists.

Sponsors of the show include Born in a Barn, Black Tooth Brewery, TD Angus and A Bar D Performance Horses. Blacktooth will be donating $1 from every beer sold and Born in a Barn will be donating $1 from every burger purchased. These funds will cover costs for the event and they will also go towards L Bar 7 Productions, which will take people who have been in the hospital for extended periods of time on backpacking trips, rafting through Utah and hunts on the Kissack ranch.

CLICK HERE to hear an instrumental preview of the album.

CLICK HERE to follow L Bar 7 on Instagram.

Upcoming Dates:

3/4 Roan & Rope to be released (this is the single on the album with all the artists together)

3/11 Hardship, Heartache, and Horse Thieves released (album)

3/18 Roan & Rope music video released

3/26 album release party in Laramie, WY

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Mackenzie Johnston raises Red Angus cattle on her family ranch near Milburn Nebraska. She has a daily video series, Cattle News Central, where she reports and comments on the news of the day in the cattle industry. Follow her here, Cattle News Central