Press

Austin Chronicle: Music Review
Texas Platters: Shawn Nelson - San Juan Street (Fonky Tonk)
By Jim Caligiuri, Fri., Dec. 23, 2011

He's been bouncing around Austin since at least 2003. Still, no one would have picked Shawn Nelson to make one of this year's best country albums. San Juan Street finds the local working with some of the most sympathetic players he's ever had the pleasure of collaborating with while also demonstrating above-average writing skills. Produced by accordion master Joel Guzman and featuring guitarist Matt Slusher and bassist Will Dupuy (formerly of South Austin Jug Band), plus Ephraim Owens on trumpet and Trisha Keefer on fiddle, Nelson mixes and matches styles flawlessly. There's outlaw-flavored two-stepper "Nobody Got a Hold On Me," the fiddle fueled alt.country of "Anna Lee," and the subdued yet ardent Tex-Mex in "Dreams in the Desert." With 14 cuts, Nelson could've pared down some of the lesser tracks; the reggae-fied "Daydreamers" seems out of place. Overall San Juan Street is filled with unexpected pleasures.

No Depression - San Juan Street
MM55 Radar Report - Shawn Nelson
by Chris Harkness

I recently received a pre-release copy of Shawn Nelson’s new CD entitled San Juan Street. I admit to being a fan of Shawn Nelson since I first booked him into The Hideaway in Houston, Texas… Shawn Nelson is a recent addition to a long list of artist’s contributing to the new “Cosmic Cowboy” movement in Austin, Texas…

In my humble opinion, the music scene in Austin has grown stale over the past decade with far too many DJ driven dance clubs and shot bars replacing live music venues on a once vibrant sixth street, making it ever more difficult for Austin to continue claiming to be “Live Music Capital of the World”… I am hopeful that the magic will return with the emergence of new and exciting artists like Shawn Nelson… Shawn’s style takes the listener back to a simpler time when the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P Nunn, Michael Murphy and so many more were rebelling against the corporate machine and spawning “The Cosmic Cowboy Movement” of the 70’s…

I recently spoke briefly with Shawn about “San Juan Street” and he told me the CD is due to be released October 2011 and a tour is in the works… Shawn also said the project took longer than he had hoped, due to cash flow fluctuations… Shawn also said “CD’s can be done one of three ways, Fast, Good or Cheap – I chose Good”… All songs on San Juan Street were written by Shawn Nelson and the project was recorded at Guzman Fox Studio in Austin, Texas. Shawn enlisted the help of some well-respected and talented individuals to work with him on this endeavor. San Juan Street was Produced and Engineered by Grammy winner Joel Guzman - Mixed by Bradley Kopp and Mastered by Grammy winner David Glasser at Airshow Mastering.

Shawn Nelson is a very talented songwriter and a great performer. See him Live when he appears in your town, I assure you the admission price will be money well spent…

PopMatters: Music Review
Shawn Nelson: San Juan Street
by Stephen Haag

Amiable country singer-songwriter throws a few sonic curveballs on his fourth album.

For peripatetic country troubadour Shawn Nelson, traveling is just as much about raising new questions as it is finding answers. Nelson’s fourth record, San Juan Street, finds him heading back to Texas from California for a girl (“More Than California”), displaced by Katrina (twice!) (“Hit the Road” and “Anna Lee”) and occasionally relaxing in the bar (the organ stroll “In the Afternoon”, the Bo Diddley beat of “Down Here”). It’s all tasteful, sturdy, leisurely-paced (no song is less than four minutes long) country rock, anchored primarily by Nelson’s guitar and Trisha Keefer’s sweet fiddle. In fact, Side A may be a little too reserved, so it’s a relief that Side B finds Nelson’s journey going international and even galactic, as well as throwing in a few sonic change-ups. He horns in on Steve Earle’s turf on “Babylon”, decrying that region’s history of bloodshed and Western interference, dabbles in reggae (without completely embarrassing himself) on “Daydreamers,” and ponders alien life on the jazzy, mystical “Hollow Moon” (“Cut up cattle and bended crops / Pyramids and carved rocks” don’t appear in too many country songs). Twenty minutes worth of pruning could make this unnecessarily hour-long album a real contender, but regardless, Nelson proves himself to be a curious, wandering soul.

Twangville - Music Review
Shawn Nelson – San Juan Street
by Shawn Underwood

The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shawn Nelson. What do they have in common? Anthems about being a free spirit. You undoubtedly know about Ramblin’ Man and Free Bird. In the case of Shawn Nelson, it’s Nobody Got A Hold On Me, the first track on his 4th release, San Juan Street. Stylistically the song is kind of a mash-up of Ryan Bingham and Old Crow Medicine Show. But it also has some southern rock roots. And it’s a good harbinger of the material to come on the album.

Based in Austin, Nelson has put together a collection of elements in his sound that certainly reflect influences from the area, like the Tex-Mex horns of the hill country that comes through in Dreams In the Desert and the title track. There are also ingredients from further east, like the Cajun fiddle in Anna Lee or the multiple lead guitar southern ballad of There’s Time. The flexibility of the entire band shows up best, though, in Daydreamers with it’s reggae beat and Norteno trumpet part.

San Juan Street isn’t just about musicianship and instrumental prowess. Nelson is honing his singer-songwriter lyric chops much like one of his inspirations, Robert Earl Keen. The protagonist in many of the songs on this record is the familiar hapless guy who just reacts to his current predicament. There’s the man who loses his wife to the flood in Anna Lee or the pollyanna who sees nothing but happiness ahead “there’s no end to me and you” in Daydreamers, but then realizes “that don’t bring back them damn old good old days” in the next song, the record’s title track.

San Juan Street has something that will appeal to just about any Twangville reader. Even better, there are some surprises with the horns, the accordion arrangements, and some sweet guitar licks, that have the album really growing on you with subsequent listens. Currently there’s a link on Nelson’s web site where you can buy the album for whatever you feel its worth. How can you go wrong?

Listen to these tracks first: Nobody Got A Hold On Me, Dreams In the Desert, Anna Lee, Daydreamers

Austin Music City: Music Review
Shawn Nelson - San Juan Street
by Greg Roberts

After listening to Shawn Nelson’s new album San Juan Street, I realized that I felt the same way I have in the past when I was standing at the edge of a vast open space in New Mexico just before sunset when all you could hear was the sound of the wind blowing across the sand and you could feel an almost overwhelming sense of loneliness mixed with a huge feeling of appreciation that I got to see the stark beauty of it.

A prolific writer, Nelson manages to keep the message of his songs always out front, never buried by over production and random instrumentation. Great songs are usually deceptive, sounding very simple while at the same time resonating a complex measure of human emotion that’s always in the center with a great production that balances the song perfectly.

“ San Juan Street”, “Hit The Road”, “Down Here”, Nobody Got a Hold on Me”, just a few of the 14 songs on this album and all are impressive. It doesn’t hurt that the producer of the album is none other than Joel Guzman, a music stalwart himself who not only produces the session but also provides some fine accordion, keys and percussion as well.

You owe it to yourself to go to www.shawnnelsonmusic.com and check it out. He’s definitely in the “One to watch” category.

Songs:Illinois - Music Review
Shawn Nelson – “San Juan Street” (feat members of the South Austin Jug Band and The Trishas)

A lot of the “country” music coming out of Texas seems to me to be too corporate. Even if the artist is independent the music is fairly obvious and shallow, the branding of the artist is too clunky, and the range of performances are rather narrow. I don’t want to name names but if you are curious what I mean check out the top ten over at Lone Star Music.

So where am I going with this? Just that Shawn Nelson’s new cd is like a breath of fresh air compared to the stale beer country being served up by a bunch of Texas singer songwriters. An indication of this is found in the people Shawn surrounds himself with. San Juan Street was produced by the great accordion player Joel Guzman and Shawn’s band features folks from the South Austin Jug Band, The Trishas and famed Austin jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens. For now Shawn Nelson’s new record can be picked up here for a limited time as a free download or you can pick up a copy of the cd at the Austin CD Release Show at The Continental Club on Friday, October 28th.

Here’s his song “More Than California” which has a perfect blend of laid back Austin country and relaxed California rock.