Nelson Bragg
&
Mr. Jones & The Previous
From ANDRAS JONES: NELSON BRAGG of the Brian Wilson Band joins us for a Pop Oracle session with a Boston accent. It’s funny and sad, like Nelson himself, that I’ve spent the last 15 years watching with joy and amazement as this guy who seemed so unassuming and out of place in the LA pop scene of the early 00’s worked his way into a totally legit rock and roll career in the hallowed company of the beachiest of boys, Mr. Wilson. It’s funny and sad because, like like Brian Wilson, Nelson travels in a sea of melancholy that is palpable in this session. Not that he’s a downer, it’s just that he’s not trying that hard to fake a smile. The laughs are earned and the existential truth is never far from the conversation. For some reason, people like this make me much more comfortable and at ease than those who don’t pepper their conversation with difficult truths and uncomfortable questions.
And speaking of difficult truths, his answer (randomly chosen from the R8B app) is a live recording of my old band, MR. JONES & THE PREVIOUS performing 3 songs from a suite of “Weather Songs” inspired in part by “The Elements” from Smile. This performance was recorded live on tour at Bangkok City in Springfield, Missouri on September 7, 1994 with R. Walt Vincent (bass & vox), Marshall Thompson (keyboards & vox), John Nason (lead guitar & vox) & Colin Mahoney (drums).
