Interview with Grammy Award Winner Paul Nelson
Sofa King Cool caught up with Paul Nelson and we talked about his new album Badass Generation, endless touring, and a Johnny Winter Hologram
Paul Nelson is a Grammy-winning American guitarist, performer, record producer, and songwriter.Who has worked with everyone from Eric Clapton to members of the Allman Brothers Band and the list goes on. He was in the blues rock band of guitarist/singer icon Johnny Winter. He produced and played on several of Winter’s albums, including the Grammy-nominated I’m a Blues Man, Roots, Step Back. The latter of these won him a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart for Blues Albums and Independent Albums, and debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the highest spot in Winter’s career. It also won the Blues Music Award for Best Rock Blues Album. Nelson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the distinguished KBA award from the Blues Foundation. He received a 59th Grammy nomination for his work as producer and performer on Joe Louis Walker’s Everybody Wants a Piece.
Paul Nelson is credited as being a composer and performer for music heard on international and national television broadcasts such as NBC, TNN, and UPN, as well as for the WWF. His solo guitar work can be heard on his first solo CD, entitled Look. He also performed on the Halifax song “Anthem For Tonight” from their album Inevitability of a Strange World, and featured on the Xbox 360 game Prey. Nelson also produced many albums, including 13 albums for Johnny Winter’s successful Live Bootleg series (all breaking the top 10 in Billboard Blues Charts), the Live Through The 70s and the Live Through The 80s DVDs as well as his Live From Rockpalastand Live From Japan DVDs.
He produced and performed on blues guitarist/singer Joe Louis Walker‘s Grammy-nominated album Everybody Wants a Piece; a James Montgomery album; a Leo “Bud” Welch album; Lance Lopez’s Live From NYC; and the sessions for a Junior Wells’ album.
He executive produced and appeared in the Johnny Winter documentary Down And Dirty, directed by Greg Oliver and also appeared in the documentary Sidemen: Long Road To Glory. along side Greg Allman, Bonnie Rait, Elvin Bishop, Pintop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin and many others.
Nelson was taught by Steve Vai, Mike Stern, and Steve Khan, and was the protégé of Johnny Winter. He has toured the world and performed live and on recordings alongside artists such as Eric Clapton, Leslie West, Larry Carlton, Edgar Winter, Derek St. Holmes, Rick Derringer, Joe Perry, Robben Ford, Brian Setzer, Billy Gibbons, Earl Slick, Dicky Betts, Mark Knopfler, Joe Walsh, Slash, Pat Travers, Elvin Bishop, Kim Simmonds/Savoy Brown, Anders Osborne, Quinn Sullivan, Los Lobos, Tinsley Ellis, Ana Popavic, Albert Castilla, Lucky Peterson, Jon Herington, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Mike Zito, JT Taylor (Kool and the Gang), Joe Louis Walker, Steve Vai, Samantha Fish, Popa Chubby, Ronnie Earl, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, Gov’t Mule, G-Love, Debbie Davies, Sonny Landreth, Joe Bonamassa, Uptown Horns, Ben Harper, Hubert Sumlin, Harvey Brooks, Steven Seagal, Bill Evans, James Cotton, Magic Slim, Coco Montoya, Reese Wynans, Edgar Winter, Ray Davies, George Lynch, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Anthony Jackson, Junior Brown, John Medeski, Ron Holloway, Jimmy Vivino of Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Paul Schaffer’s CBS Orchestra, and the Blues Brothers Horns. He has appeared on Late Night With David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Nelson signed with Sony Music Group for his self-titled solo work Badass Generation.
Nelson’s bandmates vocalist Morten Fredheim, bassist Christopher Alexander, drummer Chris Reddan, and Gov’t Mule keyboardist Danny Louis.
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