Urban Campfires Concert Preview

Concert Preview

DREW NELSON

December 6, 2008

For information about pre-paid reservations please send us an email with Drew Nelson in the subject line .urbancampfires@swbell.net

“The need for love, hope and acceptance are all interwoven into the fabric of our humanity,” Drew explains. “I want to touch that secret place in my songs.”

"Every song bristles with sincerity, spirituality, and a keen insight about real life and real people… Nelson follows the path of songwriters both classic (Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell) and contemporary (Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Mullins). Three Stars!” - The Grand Rapids Press

"Stands out! ... Original” " -Real Roots Café, Netherlands

"He moved me." -John Gorka

"One of the best of the newer performers I've seen... a natural as they say." -Claudia Schmidt (Recording Artist)

"Drew's music just sends me... He's got the edge and the insight that work!" - Dalis Allen (Producer/Empress: Kerrville Folk Festival)

Drew Nelson first hit our radar in 2004 at the Kerrville New Folk contest and again in early 2006 at the International Folk Alliance Conference. In fact, Drew, Claudia Nygaard, (our featured artist for March ‘09) and Scott and Michelle Dalziel who will play in April, were all New Folk Finalists that year. (Claudia was a New Folk Winner.) Later, Claudia and Drew ended up in the same showcase room at Folk Alliance. Two fantastic showcase sets back to back. I’m not sure what took us so long to book them and get them to San Antonio. When we are introduced to a new act that bowls us over the first question we ask ourselves is, “Will the Urban Campfires crowd like them as much as we do?” As different as they are from each other I’m confident that the answer is YES to all three of these acts.

From The Grand Rapids Press:

Drew Nelson's search for musical identity began as a youngster singing gospel songs and sitting on the porch listening to musician friends. A self-described troublemaker in grade school, he started turning things around with theater in the eighth grade, then heard his first Bob Dylan record "and there was no going back."

After high school and a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy, he returned to West Michigan and played music at a "storefront church" for migrants. It wasn't until producer, Michael Crittenden, urged him to put out his first album, "Recovering Angels," that he got serious about his songs.

Drew is firmly in the singer/songwriter mold, and his acoustic guitar playing is excellent - sometimes coming over jazzy enough to be reminiscent of John Martyn in the early 70's. His singing is pleasingly gruff, very warm and sincere. When he rocks out a bit his singing is harder and more assertive but he knows better than to try too hard; he doesn't need to batter his audience into submission, he's got subtler tricks to his trade than that.

Drew has been called "a poet", "a raw talent", "edgy", and "a passionate performer". He sites Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Patty Griffin, Lyle Lovett, Richard Shindell, Andrew Calhoun, Kat Eggleston, John Gorka, Jan Krist, Ralston Bowles, U2, and well... Dylan, Dylan, Dylan as his influences. His sound gets compared to Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Peter Mulvey, and Bruce Cockburn.

We hope you’ll cook up a little something to share at the potluck and bring 2 or 10 of your closest, music loving friends to help us welcome Drew Nelson to Urban Campfires and San Antonio.