Beaver Nelson Undisturbed Black Dog Records by Scott Snidow

Beaver Nelson can only be described as an ambitious dreamer, possessing the ear of a singer, the heart of an artist, and the soul of a poet. No, I am not waxing philosophical on you. What I am attempting to address, in my own meager way, is the fact that Nelson is quite possibly the best song crafter to ever walk into a recording studio. Each song he pens is nothing less than a work of art, possessing a life all its own. The music sets the stage for the lyrics, the two meshing together perfectly to create a finished product painted on the canvas that is the listener's mind. The Austin based Nelson's latest offering proves his talent in this area to a T. Undisturbed, unfolds like so many pictures at an exhibition. Every song leaves an indelible image stamped on the listener, no two images remotely the same. Each well-crafted song an independent entity, at once removed from the whole, while still remaining an integral part of it. Like a skilled artisan, Nelson has assembled twelve truly engaging masterpieces for this release, his third produced by Scrappy Judd Newcombe. The sounds and the images meld in such a way on this album, that you can tell producer and song crafter have an excellent feel for how each other works. The opening track, "Mad River" serves as testament to this. The music flows on this track, much like the river itself, with a fantastic slide guitar riff slicing through the lyrical landscape. The imagery is there, all contained in one neat track. I would like to take you on a tour of the whole exhibit, without dissecting it into individual segments. However, space and time constraints prevent this. So, with that in mind, I have selected a few tracks to submit for your consideration. Each follows this formula of the music matching the lyrics to allow all of the listener's senses to come into play. Another fine example is "Eleven Again," where Nelson delves into the topic of wanting to return to an age when innocence reigned supreme. The music and the lyrics have a bounce to them, short and staccato, like a child running through a meadow on a summer day. You are swept into this vision, and soon you are making involuntary connections between the lyrical images and some of your own childhood remembrances. Now that is sonic art! Shifting gears with deliberate ferocity, Nelson tackles a much more somber adult topic in the very next song, "Experiments in Love." On this track, the pace of the music slows, and the listener is met with only a solo acoustic guitar and the singer's very capable voice, which Nelson uses as a tool to pull the listener in and to focus their attention. Somewhat akin to a slow zoom shot in a wide screen movie, where you cannot help but rivet your attention firmly to the focal point. This is how Nelson so ably uses his lyrics and his music, to provide the listener with much more than a song. There are elements from many other rockers that have gone before in Nelson's music. If you listen closely, you can hear sounds that you know came from so and so and such and such. I don't want to discuss these too much here, as that will take away the joy of discovery that you will have when listening to the album. But again, these are just more of the tools that Nelson employs in his craft, the styling of sonic works of art. Undisturbed is a fantastic offering that I cannot imagine being unwelcome in any collection of Americana music. It has just enough appeal that it seems to offer something for everyone. I know that critics often overuse this last statement, but in this case it is true. Find out for yourself. Go on over to www.beavernelson.com, where you can listen to sound clips from every track on Undisturbed, and read how well the lyrics blend with the music. You can contact Scott Snidow at: scott-at-rockzilla.net

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