October 1, 2001
Beaver Nelson, Undisturbed
By Dave Madeloni, Northampton Brattleboro Reformer

First, there is the face. Riveting blue eyes, coldly staring. A wispy beard and windswept, scraggly hair going every which way. A confounding countenance that implies danger and exudes vulnerability. Staring at the beguiling visage that's plastered across all three of his album covers—you just can't decide if he is a little scary or a little sweet.

Then, of course, there is that corny name that conjures up images of a round-faced sixties TV sitcom star. "I've been called Beaver since the day I came home from the hospital. My sister hated my guts, and it was the second meanest thing she could think to call me." Her first choice shall remain a mystery.

Then there is a roller-coaster past. A first semester English major drop-out at the University of Texas, Nelson was tabbed by Rolling Stone magazine eleven years ago as the "future of Americana and roots music". What followed was a nearly decade long series of disappointments and misadventures with record companies that finally culminated with a critically acclaimed self-released debut, The Last Hurrah in 1998.

But for Beaver Nelson, it is simply about the songs.

I asked Nelson via the internet, how he approaches a live audience. "The number one thing is the songs. I want to assure those who have heard of me or the record before, get what they came for. Not a big splash personality wise, but I want the songs to be as clear as possible for those people. Anyone who wants to understand the song, can."

The record that Nelson is referring to is his latest, entitled Undisturbed, which documents the Texan's continued growth as a singer and as a lyricist. The tunes are sometimes rowdy, sometimes tender, and are always engaging.

Like many who approach with trepidation and contemplation the age of thirty, the new album finds Nelson at an emotional crossroads, reflecting on his past ("11 Again"), ruminating about the present ("Better Now"), and reassessing the future ("Beauty In Store"). That he writes about those issues is not all that original or earth shattering.

It is just that he does it so very well.

Along with his musical cohort, producer/guitarist Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Nelson has assembled a dozen slices of ripe heartland pop that combine Mellencamp/Petty catchiness with Dylanesque poetic flair. Especially effective are the opening track "Mad River", a wistful and wishful float downstream, and the ballad "The Beauty In Store" ("A helping hand that's been blistered raw/And one lone child sitting on a see-saw/ Spending all the hope he can afford"), which is written to Nelson's son and takes on added poignancy in light of the recent traumatic events in the news.

I asked Nelson about the buoyantly rollicking childhood reflection, "11 Again." "It is about a loss of innocence. We always refer to it as a tragic loss, but it's just the mistakes we make in our innocence. You can't blame others for the loss of innocence, it's just the natural order of things and it's our own doing."

Beaver Nelson, who will be appearing at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Ma. tomorrow night, is beginning to make sense of his see-saw career and his life choices, through his thoughtful compositions. "Undisturbed" reveals his maturation and his ongoing search for clarity in scary and sweet world.