Original, folk-style, Americana

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, COUNTRY: Country Folk



Details:
John Wiley "The Rev" Nelson is a singer/songwriter (no relation to Willie Nelson, unfortunately), living with his family in Provincetown, Mass. He has played with various groups, including The Highlanders, and the Highlanders II folkie groups in Pittsburg, in the 60's, Cucumber Rapids, a bluegrass and country cover band, in Pittsburgh in the 70's, and Life's Other Side, an old-time country band in the Trenton/Princeton area since 1982. Life's Other Side has performed at Snowbird in Utah and in Santa Fe, and were featured on the Ernest Tubb Midnight Opry in January of 2005, with Whispering Bill Anderson. The Rev now plays with a part original music, part 30's-40's tunes, band on the Outer Cape, called Willie and the Nelson Brothers. He has been writing original music in the folk tradition since 2000 (what they seem to call "Americana" today) and the CD posted is his third, Nit-Pickin'. His second, Jug Band Jacket, is already posted. He writes in traditional folk styles, including ragtime, folk blues, country ballads, and talking blues. His talking blues are humorous story-songs in the old talking blues format. His first CD featured Dad in Charge of the Kids at the End of the Day Talking Blues; the second CD features the talking blues, Jug Band Jacket, Consider the Alternative, and Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time. This CD includes a talking blues called Lock Me Up, about what turns out to be a very long trip to the convenience store. On this CD is a ragtime song called Dance My Way Right into Your Heart, and the three songs called The Provincetown Trilogy: P-town Moon, P-town Rag, and Getting Down in Provincetown. Provincetown is a resort community at the end of Cape Cod, with a year-round population of 3500, and a summer population of 35,000. The CD also contains the humorous songs, Nit-Pickin' and Till Then. The band includes musicians from upstate New York, Princeton, New Jersey, and Nashville, Tennessee. The Rev is a retired Presbyterian Minister, with a Ph.D. in Theology, who taught Systematic Theology in Pittsburgh for ten years, and served a church in Trenton for 20 years. But he has moved on to, let us say, other things, and his music is not in the Christian music tradition. So, be warned.