ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608050119
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: RECORD REVIEW
SOURCE: NADINE COHODAS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
"Move On" is an appropriate title for Tracy Nelson's new album on Rounder Records.
It comes on the heels of two highly acclaimed blues releases, "In the Here and Now" in 1993 and "I Feel So Good" in 1995. But this year Nelson decided it was time to move on to a different kind of recording.
Though "Move On" has some blues tunes, the lush harmonies on some songs give it a gospel feel, and the guitar and keyboard work on others provide a hint of country and New Orleans shuffle. It is typical of Nelson, who has resisted categories in her 30-year career and has resolutely hued to her own path.
"I did what I wanted to do," she explained recently from her home outside Nashville, adding that the album may be the most "self-indulgent" she's ever done because it is her vision from beginning to end. Always candid, often earthy, Nelson describes with delight one cut, "Ladies Man," where she is joined by Bonnie Raitt, Phoebe Snow, and Maria Muldaur: "Four old broads" having a good time.
Her two blues albums, both on Rounder, reconnected Nelson with her fans, who had wondered where she was during a 13-year recording absence. And while she risks losing some of them with the more adventurous "Move On," she says it's more important to record what she hears in her head than to tailor her music to fit some commercial slot or someone else's ideas. She particularly likes the harmonies and full-throttle musical arrangements on her new release, even though her majestic voice is out of the limelight on some tunes.
Nelson made her first album, the all-blues "Deep Are the Roots," in 1965, when she was just 19. She made 13 more through 1980, when she released "Come See About Me." Then came the drought, when no one seemed interested in her. Raitt and Linda Ronstadt, contemporaries who have each recorded songs Nelson wrote, went on to commercial success. Nelson languished. There were moments during the '80s, she says, "when I just thought, 'I've done what I'm going to do. It's time to find something else.'" Then "the cosmic carrot" as Nelson puts it, would come along - a moving letter from a fan or some sign of interest from a record executive - to remind her that she was and is a singer.
There are signs now of a Nelson boomlet. In the fall, Warner will reissue some of her work from the late '60s and early '70s with Mother Earth, the band she put together when she moved to California. Due out are Nelson's well-received 1970 country album and a compilation of tunes from seven albums she made with the band. Included will be Nelson's signature song, "Down So Low," which she calls the ultimate "bad boyfriend song." (It was written after her breakup with Steve Miller, when he was young and not yet famous.)
Move On features four songs Nelson wrote, and heartbreak is everpresent. It is the only subject that moves her to write, she says - but quickly adds that she hasn't written much lately. The paucity of new songs is the result of one thing - Nelson has been very happy with her companion of three years, recording engineer Mike Dysinger, who produced "Move On."
Though Nelson sings so compellingly about heartache, she is bemused when fans worry that she's miserable. "When you sing a song you're not giving an interview about your personal life," she says.
Nelson is universally considered to be a great singer. What most people don't know, says Larry Chaney, her longtime guitar player, is that she knows music inside and out. "She is easily one of the best musicians I've ever worked with," he explains. "She hears everything."
Blues rocker Delbert McClinton, who joins Nelson on the opening cut of "Move On," admires her as "a trooper." It is a description she'll accept, and she intends to ride this latest burst of interest in her career for a long time.
"I want to sing until the day I die," she says with a hearty laugh. "I don't want any down time."
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB