Steve Nelson
Easthampton, Massachusetts, United States | SELF
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Steve Nelson
Distance Over Time
Katmandu Records
Steve Nelson is much-heard, but not much heard-of. While his name isn't yet well-known, he has penned plenty of memorable, well-loved songs for Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Melissa Manchester and others. He wrote songs for movies and for television, even writing for much-loved yellow bear Winnie the Pooh. Of late, he's become known as a valued co-writer to master songsmith Guy Clark: Nelson co-wrote three songs that appear on Clark's two latest albums.
Nelson's own Distance Over Time album reveals him as a recording artist of significant worth. His voice doesn't soar like Streisand's and it doesn't convey the gruff authority of Clark's, but it is conversational and heart-first, distinct and enjoyable. His songs are melodically complex and lyrically sophisticated, but with none of the stuffiness that words like "complex" and "sophisticated" can convey.
"When the Dead Came Home" is a somber tribute to forgotten, fallen warriors, and it is free of the jingoism that so frequently burdens songs of that ilk. "Walkin' Man," a co-write with Guy Clark that appears on Clark's new Workbench Songs album, brings a practical edge to a folkie sensibility. And "John's Pond" leads off the Distance Over Time album with melancholy and emotion and other things that frequently accompany ?us as we move into cold winter.
— PETER COOPER, STAFF WRITER
- The Tennessean (12/04/06)
“Only the Iceman and Steve Nelson cometh with glee.”
-Bruce Hornsby
I like the songs.
I like the sounds
The sense of humor
The serious side
The style
Mostly, I like Steve
-Guy Clark
“Steve's words & music say what I feel, in a whimsical, fun and thought provoking way.”
-Harry Chapman WTVF (CBS)
News Channel 5
“Steve Nelson- His songs remind us that breath and dreams and craft and poetry and life go into writing a fine song. He’s got all of these and more in his whimsical, tuneful and heartfelt songs. Thanks so much Steve, for sharing your visions with us.
-Melissa Manchester
"Steven--the garbage!!"
-Steve's Mom
- Various
Discography
Listen What The Katmandu (Katmandu Records/2003)
Distance Over Time (Katmandu Records/2006)
Photos
Bio
A Steve Nelson fan at Nashville’s storied Bluebird Café said it best: “It’s as if his songs have been in my life all along but it just took me a while to discover them.
The entertainment industry has certainly noticed: Steve is two-time winner of the SESAC Americana Music Award, received an Emmy nomination for Sesame Street and scored two Emmy-winning TV series, and contributed to the recent Grammy-nominated Guy Clark album, “Workbench Songs.” After quietly slipping us songs all these years via the voices of pop megastars (Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Paul Anka), Nashville legends (Guy Clark, Doug Stone), outrageously famous puppets (Sesame Street), and the world’s most popular bear (Winnie the Pooh theme song), Steve is finally stepping out as an artist to perform favorite songs you may already know – plus a shimmering collection
of new ones. Some of those, appear on two recent albums of his own that were beautifully produced by Grammy winner Don Henry. Evident throughout are Steve’s hard-won life experience, relentless honesty, mischievous humor and deep social conscience.
Along the path that has led him from his New York roots to California and then to Nashville, Steve has built on the work of the artists he loves most – The Beatles, Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, James Taylor and Randy Newman – to create his own signature blend of styles. That path continues to feed Steve’s ongoing artistic growth, clearly evident on his latest release, “Distance Over Time.” From its poignant opening
track (“John’s Pond,” featuring Bruce Hornsby), this impeccable, engaging, and timeless tapestry of songs, further establishes Steve as an enduring – and endearing – original voice of American music.
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