Tilt-A-Whirl

A fine effort by a fine artist with a Springsteenesque affinity for tapping into the heart of the heartland and the people who live there. The man writes a good tune...

http://drewnelson.net/about-drew/

Michigan-born Navy veteran Drew Nelson is a storytelling songwriter and multiinstrumentalist. A fly fisherman and world traveler, he writes as a witness to the lives and journeys of those he has met along the way, mixing Americana and roots-rock with traditional folk styles.

Drew has toured across North America and Europe, performing solo and opening for popular rock artists like Melissa Etheridge and Edwin McCain as well as esteemed folk singers like Josh White Jr. and John Gorka.

He first met John Gorka in 2006, when Drew performed as part of Falcon Ridge Folk Festival's prestigious songwriting contest. John found him backstage after his performance and told him how much his songs moved him. Since then, Drew has shared the stage with John several times, including at such big events as the Kerrville Folk Festival. "Drew Nelson is one of my favorite new artists," John Gorka says. "His songs sound like the rest of us feel….dazed, angry, amazed and climbing."

Drew garnered further attention in 2009, when he released Dusty Road to Beulah Land (Waterbug Records), and it topped the folk radio charts. It also caught the attention of the Grammy-winning indie label Red House
Records, which just signed him. "I love that Drew can rock out as well as write sensitive ballads," Red House president Eric Peltoniemi says. "I admire his down-to-earth songwriting which portrays our world and ordinary people with such deep feeling and unflinching clarity. He has worked hard in life and hasn't been afraid to get his hands dirty. He has 100% credibility in the subject matter he writes about, and I'm excited to get the chance to work with him."

Drew's Red House debut Tilt-A-Whirl comes out in early 2012. He can also be heard on the new album Dark River: Songs of the Civil War Era, along with Jon Dee Graham, Slaid Cleaves, James McMurtry and new label-mate Eliza Gilkyson.

In support of his new album, Drew Nelson will be showcasing at the 2012 International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis and will be touring across North America and Europe.

When Drew is not on the road, he enjoys reading, rooting for the Detroit Tigers, doing hot yoga and working as an amateur luthier, building guitars and octave mandolins. He is also working on putting together a photography show.

Red House Records is pleased to announce the February 14, 2012 release of Tilt-A-Whirl, the label debut of Michigan songwriter Drew Nelson. An artist with an international reputation and several critically acclaimed albums under his belt, the folk/Americana artist writes as a witness to the lives and journeys of those he has met along the way.b Mixing Sprinsgteen's roots-rock sounds with the folk storytelling sensibility of Nanci Griffith, Drew introduces us to an eclectic cast of everyday characters that includes out of work war vets, forsaken lovers, migrant workers and other directionless lost souls.

"As you encounter the characters on this record, it becomes clear that Drew Nelson has dedicated and re-dedicated himself to getting at real human stories," says acclaimed songwriter Peter Mulvey. "Some of these characters are him, and some are people he knows, and all their stories let us know that Drew is standing in the Midwestern cold, seeing and telling as clearly as he can."

Recorded in his home state of Michigan, Drew's new album sprung out of a series of serendipitous events that started with a chance encounter with a friend in 2011. It had been two years since his radio-charting album Dusty Road to Beulah Land came out, and this friend told him he had to make a new CD. "I just laughed and said 'Yeah, if I could pay for it.' He asked me how much it would cost, and he wrote me a check." Drew then called up his producer Michael Crittenden at Mackinaw Harvest Studios and to his great disappointment, discovered that the studio was booked solid for the next six months. But five minutes later, Michael called back saying that the band had cancelled for the following week. "That was it," Drew says. "I started to call all the musicians I knew that I wanted on the CD and just lived in the studio for the next two weeks, writing two new songs and recording almost everything live."

The timing ended up being perfect as Drew was able to record with some of his favorite Michigan musicians, including Michael Crittenden (B-3 organ, Wurlitzer, piano, guitars), Mark R. Schrock (bass, mandolin, vocals), Brian Morrill (drums), Drew Howard (pedal steel, Dobro), Jen Sygit (vocals) and Bettye LaVette's guitarist Brett Lucas who was coincidentally not on tour and was able to come in from Detroit. Adding some soulful electric guitar parts, Lucas added a rock edge to songs like "Promised Land" and "Danny and Maria" while adding subtle textures to acoustic tracks like "St. Jude" and "Here and There."

Together this ensemble of musicians brings Drew's sad and beautiful working class tales to life. Speaking to today's hard economic realities, Tilt-A-Whirl illuminates people's struggles to hold onto their hopes and dreams as they spin through the wild carnival ride of life