On the Drums

Nathan Followill

The Kings of Leon drummer explains how family roots and relationships built the band.

by garrison // October 20, 2026

Nathan Followill keeps it in the family.

For over a quarter century, Nathan Followill and family have taken their band, Kings of Leon, on a meteoric rise to a global audience while staying true to their Southern rock and tent revival family roots. We caught up with the drummer at 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest to talk about how music affects him, which songs still make him nervous, and his time as the band’s legal guardian at 21.

DW: Who are you going to see live today at New Orleans Jazz Fest?

NF: We’ve got Preservation Hall tonight, so that's going to be exciting. We will fly out at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and I’m so bummed to miss Jon Batiste. I love, love, love his music because, growing up playing gospel music and our dad being a preacher, Jon Batiste’s music is everything I loved about going to church, which is just like a drug. Worship gets your endorphins going—it’s just like you're a part of it. I could sit in the gospel tent here for literally 12 hours and not get up.

DW: So, album number nine was Can We Please Have Fun, and the single was “Mustang." Any thoughts you’d like to share about that track?

NF: We love that song. That's in my top two or three favorite songs. It's in the set tonight. Like, that was the last record we made where we still had a band member in their 30s and still don't have a band member in their 50s. Our next record, the youngest member will be in their 40s and the oldest in their 50s. We won't say who.

"I could sit in the gospel tent here for literally 12 hours."

DW: What is your favorite Kings of Leon song to play live?

NF: Ooh. “Slow Night, So Long.” And that’s because it's so challenging for me that I still get nervous. I don’t know about the other guys, but I'm as nervous right now as I was the first time we ever went on stage. We used to have a saying in my family, “Fake it till you make it.” I may look calm, but there's a show going on inside.

DW: The band first took off in Europe. Tell us about that.

NF: We were making our first record. And they're like, “Y'all got to go to England and play a festival.” And we're like, what do you mean? We're making a record. “Oh, you got to go.” We had an EP out called Molly's Chambers, which was a huge single over there. So, we went and loved it because it helped us build our music muscles enough that when it was time to do it in America, we could hang with these other guys. When you're a novelty in the beginning like we were, you know—preacher’s kids from the South—it kept people's attention long enough to listen.

DW: You earned the respect of the audience. Can you share a memory from that time?

NF: We’d play for 25,000 people and come home to meet our Mom at baggage claim. And we'd get our suitcases, and she'd be like, “Okay, let's go do laundry. And you need a haircut. You've lost weight. You need to eat, etc.” So, we’d wait on our marching orders and then try to figure out what our fighting weight for the next tour was going to be.

“We’d play for 25,000 people and come home to our Mom at baggage claim.”

Nathan Followill plays drums in the dark

DW: I remember you getting the call to go over, and the doors were opening. Then the second time you went, a huge door opened when you returned.

NF: I'll never forget we played the Mercury Lounge in New York City, and one of the Allman Brothers was there. And NME, the British music magazine, asked him after the show, “So, what do you think about these guys being the next big thing in southern rock?” And he said, “Wait, these guys aren't British?” We’d played over there so much that when we finally got back here, people were fans either because the guys they discovered were American—or felt “they’re red, white, and blue, right?” But hey, everything happens the way it’s supposed to happen.

DW: That’s perfect.

NF: And we're still doing it—this is year 26. Yeah, I mean, like when I look at it, we’ve been in the band longer than we haven't been in the band. My baby brother Jared (Followill, bassist) was 15-1/2 when we took him the first time. And we came home three months later, and then we kidnapped our cousin (Matthew Followill, guitarist). Every time we'd go through customs, I'd be like, “Am I going to get arrested for kidnapping my cousin and bringing him abroad? This could be it.”

"We’ve been in the band longer than we haven't been in the band.”

DW: What was it like to be the appointed guardian in those types of situations?

NF: I was the oldest one in the room and would’ve been the youngest in any other room. But I do miss the days of them calling me and saying, “Hey, I've met a girl, and she wants me to go to this bar. It's around the corner. Is it cool if we go? What time should we be back by?” And the next tour was like 30% of those calls. And then the next tour I’d say, “Dude, just be at lobby call.” And then eventually they’d say, “I swear to God, I'll be at lobby call.”

DW: Is the band taking off right after this performance or are there other dates?

NF: We fly into Lincoln, Nebraska, tomorrow to play with Zack Bryan on Saturday. Then we go home, and we have two more weeks left of recording on record 10. So, we'll get that finished up, and we'll tour in Europe for the summer, and then come back here and get ready for another cycle to support the rollout of the record.

Hear Kings of Leon’s first single, "My Whole World," from their upcoming album, O My Beloved, and stay tuned for the supporting tour.

Photo credits: Andy Barron

Special thanks to: Juels Thomas, Nate Warshowsky