Acoustic Soul. It's a genre that's emerged in the past generation or two, as singer-songwriters have combined singer-songwriter sensibilities with R&B vocals and groove. Singers such as Shawn McDonald, Dave Barnes and Matt Wertz have put their mark on the genre, but in an age of electronic instruments and big production, there's room for more raw, honest, real songwriting and simpler (but still skilled) musical sounds. 

Enter Nathan Sink, the Washington-based artist whose steady musical diet of hip-hop, R&B and worship music has led to a lifelong pursuit that has culminated in the release of his first album, the partially crowdfunded Another Turn. 

New on the scene, we thought we'd get to know Nathan by asking him 10 questions. 

Give us a bit of background on you. You moved around a lot when you were little in the south and really up until recently when you've come to the northwest. Talk about how you got into music and the start of your journey there.

I grew up in the '80s. I'm dating myself, but my first experience with music was on cassette tapes. Really it was with Christian music. It wasn't any secular stuff so to speak. I think my first CD was a group called ETW, End Time Warriors, a rap group. I was into some old school rap, hip hop.

I always enjoyed a little bit of hip-hop and R&B. My parents were pastors, so I obviously grew up around worship music as well. I never really saw myself playing an instrument up until high school, when I saw somebody doing it and was like, "I can do that." I guess it just progressed from there eventually.

Over the years you've developed quite a devoted following. Talk about how this support developed around you over the years.

I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2007. I have a degree in engineering. I'm still doing that, but my first job out of school was an engineer. Then I felt a strong pull to music, and my faith was obviously very important to me.

So I moved out to Tulsa with the intent to go to Bible school and I ended up doing that and going to a school of worship. Tulsa is a great place. There's a lot of megachurches there, which is great because a lot of people to reach, but there's also a lot of good musicians with good hearts. Just through friends and church I just kind of developed some relationships.

The way I did my Kickstarter campaign was a little different. I didn't really have a huge following at the time, so I didn't feel like I could ask people to give me money and then not have anything for them to know what they were getting into. So on my own bill, I recorded one song. I finished it, mastered and everything, and I put that up on the site and I said, "If you like this song, then help me make more music. If not, that's fine too."

It was a really cool way and it worked out well. I got the support I needed and even still I didn't want the whole thing to be funded. I wanted to do half of it on my own just because I wanted to have ownership of it, but I also love the crowd funding thing. I know there's a lot of good music out there and a lot of things for people to spend their money on, so I just wanted some help with it and it worked out great.
 
It's been a couple of months now since the release came out. How's the response been so far? Where do we find you today?

It's a little odd in that I released an album. I'd been working on it for a good while and it took longer than I expected, but I finally got it done about the time I left Tulsa and the support I had there. They're obviously still there, but there's a little bit of disconnect with me not being in town anymore.

I've kind of had to start over new a little bit in the Northwest. I've recently had two kids, so I'm not really playing a lot of shows at the moment, but in the near future I hope to do some more of that and get the word out. This is obviously my first solo album and testing the waters a little bit and kind of figuring out how to keep a job, have a family and raise kids and all the stuff that comes along with that.

You said you have this engineering degree. What is your secret identity? What's your full time gig right now?

I am a mechanical engineer and I work for a company that is helping clean up the largest nuclear waste sight in the United States.

That's awesome. When you really compare these two sides of who you are, these two waves of your life, how do they complement each other?

I want to say they do, but I almost keep them separate, not by intent. I guess I really find a connection with the local church and I do worship as well and get involved in the church. It's great to work with other believers and get to play music at the same time. I have some stuff at home. I have my instruments and my little studio and I try to get away and write some songs here and there, that type of thing. Try to get out and play when I can. I wear the khaki pants during the weekday.

This is your first album. This is your first solo project. Really people are just going to be getting to know you through this music. Describe your sound, describe what this album brings musically and thematically to people checking you out for the first time.

I've always, say post-college, I've identified with singer/songwriters like Warren Barfield or Dave Barnes, Matt Wertz, those kind of guys. It's hard to be in a band just by the fact everyone has to commit, everyone has to be on the same page. It's difficult to do that a lot of times. 

So for myself it was like it's not that I didn't want the camaraderie of a band because I was in bands before and I like it a lot, but I just thought I could control the direction and the timing and the pace of things more as an independent artist.

So for a long time I didn't think I could do it. I had the desire, but for whatever reason I was timid about it. Eventually I just said, "Let's just see what happens." I started writing songs and do what I could. Some things started panning out and I thought, "I can maybe do this." 

So I try to put some things in the music that are just hooky or relatable. I dig the music. I can bob my head to it. There's great music out there today, but sometimes it can get a little sterile and predictable. It's hard not to fall into that category, obviously, but I want to make music that's got a little bit of a groove to it. After you're done listening to it, you're kind of still nodding your head a little bit.
 
Give us, if you will, your top albums that have been huge to you as an artist.

Definitely Warren Barfield, his album, Reach. Then Dave Barnes, his early stuff, all his stuff is really good, but Chasing Mississippi and Brother Bring the Sun are great albums. Matt Wertz, the 23 Places album. NEEDTOBREATHE is a huge favorite of mine too. The Outsiders album is awesome. Pretty much all their stuff. Continuum by John Mayer is also one of my favorites.

What is it about those guys that draws you to them?

The message is one thing, especially the guys who are faith driven, but just sort of the honesty of the music and it's not overly produced. It's the kind of music you could hear at a house show or a coffee shop and not necessarily a stadium, but it has a groove to it.

What would you say, as best you understand it, is the calling, the mission that you sense surrounding all of this? What are you called to? Where is this all going?

I think the biggest thing is just that people can find hope in music. I don't always specifically speak about God or about Jesus or about the saving grace that you find in Him, but I want to offer that to people in a way that maybe they just relate to a story in the song or the situation and that it just plants a seed or it resonates in them where they just stop and think about something new. If they don't know God, maybe they reach out and say, "There's something about this or the presence of God is even in this song." They may not know it, but they're drawn to it for that reason.

I'm not necessarily called, I don't think, to be an evangelist in that regard, but I want the music to glorify God, even if it's a love song. There are at least two of those on my album just because that's a natural thing God created and it's a good thing. Hopefully that's a good answer.

How can people pray for you?

Really just to be a good husband, a good dad, and to juggle it all and to put God first--not music or something that's near and dear to my heart like that, but always keep Him at the forefront and just be able to depend on Him and not do it on my own strength.


Get Nathan Sink's Another Turn on iTunes here.