As a boy in rural upstate New York, Nelson discovered the sound of American roots music. Now he's an award-winning songwriter, his guitar work often compared to Mississippi John Hurt and Dave Van Ronk, and writing to early Bob Dylan and John Prine.

His newest album, Ghosts On The Water, is a brilliant synthesis of compelling stories and simple melodies that sound like the old America but speak to the new. “The past leaves its marks. There are ghosts all around us.”

Nelson’s 2014 project, Orphans & Relics, was a Roots Music Report Top 100 Folk Album, and it captured some exceptional press (“…like listening to a plate of T Bone Burnett,” wrote AltCountry). 

Nelson is currently Seattle-based. His current drug of choice is caffeine.