Paul Nelson is recognized as one of today’s top guitarists/songwriters and producers not only having the distinction of being the hand picked fellow guitarist to the legendary rock/blues icon Johnny Winter but he has toured the world over performing and or recorded along side an endless who’s who list of top artists from Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy to Slash, Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Robben Ford, Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, James Cotton, Joe Perry, Susan Tedeschi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, John Popper, Dr. John, Larry Carlton, Leslie West, Joe Bonamassa, Sonny Landreth, Dickey Betts to Joe Walsh and countless more talented artists. Nelson received a Grammy award for his work performing on and producing Winter’s “Step Back” release on Megaforce/Sony winning “Best Blues Album of the Year” highlighting his already long list of Grammy Nominations. As well as the BMA “Blues Music Award” for “Best Blues/Rock Album” reaching #16 on the Billboard Top 200 and staying at #1 on the Billboard Blues Charts for weeks. He is also a recipient of the Blues Foundation’s KBA “Keeping The Blues Alive Award”. His music has reached millions with appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live, and on award winning documentaries: “Down and Dirty” The Johnny Winter Story and “Sideman: Long Road to Glory” ft. Bonnie Rait, Gregg Allman, Hubert Sumlin, as well as music written/performed and broadcast nationally on NBC and on multiple major album releases, books, instructional guitar columns, live Concert DVD’s, and guest performances on countless recordings.
I had the chance to catch up with Paul as he just finished up a tour with his band, The Paul Nelson Band. We got into his newest album, “Badass Generation” and what went into putting that one together. We get into his work with Johnny Winter, and how it was more than the music that made their relationship thrive. The documentary, “”Down & Dirty” details a lot of that relationship and Paul was the Executive Producer on that project, so we got into what it was like to have that portion of your days relived through video. Paul even shares a couple of head-shaking, and smile raising stories from days gone by.
Paul Nelson & Johnny Winter
