October 1, 1998
The First Hurrah
Chris Riemenschneider, Austin American Statesman

If you notice the trace of tire tracks across Beaver Nelson's face on the cover of his new Freedom Records release, The Last Hurrah, then you won't be surprised to learn he has been run over and passed by for roughly the past seven years.

Beaver is the guy who has signed two major-label record deals and has nary an album to show for them. After generating a buzz by his 20th birthday, the shaggy, gangly singer-songwriter moved to Austin from Houston in 1991 and signed with Columbia Records. That deal fell through, but about a year later, he spent a month at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis recording a debut for a subsidiary of Epic Records run by none other than Titanic director James Cameron. That one sunk, too. For the album that would ultimately be canned, Nelson had put together the rhythm section of Tony Scalzo and Joey Shuffield, who would go on to sell a million records as two-thirds of Fastball.

Nelson, meanwhile, is just now seeing the release of his first album, minus the ballyhoo that might have accompanied a major-label release, but plus the credibility and heart that go with a self-crafted, independent release.

"I've had my shot at the big time on several occasions," the 27-year-old tunesmith said last week. "As crummy as those deals and those situations might have been, I know those sorts of things don't come along every day, so I'm not bitter. My whole focus has changed so much, anyway. The things I wanted when I was 21 aren't what I want now."

For all the soured feelings-the latter record deal ended with A&R staff being told from up above that they actually weren't supposed to sign anyone-Nelson comes out fresh and undeniably triumphant on The Last Hurrah, perhaps the local sleeper of the year, much like Freedom Records' Jon Dee Graham album was last year.

Remarkably, the ironically titled album edges on upbeat. As upbeat, anyway, as could be expected from a student of Townes Van Zandt school of songwriting. Nelson said he wrote many of the songs not long after attending Van Zandt's funeral in Nashville in early '97.

"My one regret, the thing that I most wish I had done these past seven years, was to have kept playing solo, singer-songwriter shows," Nelson said. "Being in a band, pulling all-nighters at a club somewhere, that's great. I've had a lot of fun doing that. But I'd be happy now just playing the Cactus Cafes of the world".

Though the album features a dizzying array of performers who have stayed in Nelson's corner all these years - including its producer, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, plus George Reiff, Mark Patterson, Rich Brotherton, Gurf Morlix, Michael Fracasso, Kevin Carroll, Toni Price, Casper Rawls and more - most of the songs on The Last Hurrah are ready-made for the solo troubadour world. In the image-soaked Too Much Moonlight, co-written with Jules Shear, Nelson unweaves all the majesty of nighttime. Forget Thinkin' celebrates slacker life in a wistful, spirited tone. And All Over, 100-proof Van Zandtist, finds the singer darkly intoning, "My skin is thicker than it used to be, in most places/Tanned and thick and dried, there's lines all over my faces."

"It's true," Nelson said. "It's been a long, weird, hard road. I was even doubting whether this album would make it out. You know, I was thinking at the back of my head that (Freedom Records proprietor) Matt Eskey would have a heart attack or something and I still wouldn't have any record to speak of."

Breathe easy. It's definitely out and worthy of the attention Nelson earned at the beginning of the decade.