John Nelson “Vagabond”

Mystery Bay, 2011

File under; Americana Folk. Listen carefully.

• What do Robert Cray, The Posies and King Sunny Ade have in common? They’ve all been produced or had albums engineered by John Nelson. Now there’s a thing.

• Nelson’s latest album brings his considerable talents to bear on his own songs and excellent they are too. What I specifically like about this album is the variety. Nelson brings in the Native American flute player Gentle Thunder on the epic ‘Medicine Creek’ which provides a rich ambiance that evokes the sun kissed plains of Arizona or New Mexico.

  ‘There’s No Right Way To Do Me Wrong’ swaggers with its blues vibe and honky tonk piano and instrumental ‘Waltz Indigo’ sways gently in the breeze. ‘Oklahoma Saturday Night’ brings in a tiny bit of bluegrass; but not too much – we don’t want that do we? And ‘til My Work Is Done’ is a simple prayer set to a resonator guitar – no more. Simple is good. Oh yes. ‘I Found Myself In You’ may not be the most perfectly sung song ever, but that’s part of its charm. ‘Waiting For The Weekend’ also demonstrates Nelson’s unwillingness to reach perfection with his vocal range, but again it’s all the better for it. There are 13 self penned songs on “Vagabond” and they’re all unique in the way they’ve been written and presented. I’m not going to list them all here, but I recommend you get a copy of the CD and check them out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.