Contact to book Joe D. Nelson
About
For the better part of the 21st Century, Joe D. Nelson (aka Jody Nelson) has been writing songs about how strange it is to be anything at all. He trades in a perverse Americana articulated via a novelist’s eye for detail, a poet’s love of the liminal, playful surrealism, and sci-fi morality. His characters are of this place yet are utterly mystified by their trappings. Some of them are amphibious. Others are lost to circumstance. There are cowboys confused by horses. A man in a “tap water suit”. Some are walking tarot cards. There is a lot of fruit -- some of it anthropomorphised; some of it portentous. Sometimes things get scary. Often things are sweet. Regardless, each song is delivered as if Nelson’s reporting to a higher intelligence that has left him long since marooned… But he seems to be taking it all in stride.
Nelson cut his songwriting teeth via his former outfit, Through The Sparks -- a Birmingham, Alabama garage band consisting of formidable multi-instrumentalists and studio rats whose instrumental ambitions could easily match his fevered lyrical visions. With his solo debut, Iced Cherries, Nelson helms every intricacy with wide eyes and a full heart -- inverting his past techniques by abandoning electric guitars and ProTools in favor of deft fingerpicking on an acoustic guitar and recording live to analog tape. Iced Cherries is unlike anything else he’s ever released yet it crystalizes Nelson’s well-honed gifts. As for influences, one might hear shades of Bruce Cockburn, whom he recently covered on the latest volume of Imaginational Anthem on the Tompkins Square label. More often than not, Iced Cherries sounds like an unholy alliance of Fred Neil, Joe Pass, Thomas Pynchon, and David Berman. Nelson’s writing has never been stronger and his approach to his instrument is equally as lyrical.
And if this all sounds complicated and dense… Well, it is. This is an album not only deserving of a lyric sheet, but annotations. That said, part of Nelson’s genius is making sound so effortless. Iced Cherries is never bogged down by its athleticism or layered concepts. It sounds as natural as a lazy summer’s day by the water -- delivered with an easy charm that belies any archness. On a surface level, each of these songs could win over audiences in a grocery store parking lot or a school fundraiser. It’s only with closer inspection that one could grok Nelson’s wild storytelling. At its core, Iced Cherries is a deconstruction of singer-songwriter tropes. He wrote a song in every key -- and each of those songs slyly slaughters a sacred cow musically or lyrically. Sometimes both. Even the album cover is a wink. But these are folk songs in that all folk songs are of their time -- and these are very weird times.
Recorded at Dial Back Sound (Water Valley, MS), Sun Drop Studio (Muscle Shoals), and Communicating Vessels (Birmingham, AL), Nelson performed all of Iced Cherries in sequence at each session -- later selecting the best performances for the album. Every nuance -- audible winces, fluctuations in time, reverberated yelps -- was committed to tape. While not a COVID album, per se, Nelson spent a healthy chunk of quarantine developing his picking technique and experimenting with alternate tunings. Already an accomplished and respected guitarist -- not only for his work in Through The Sparks but for his contributions as a session player and sideman (Wooden Wand, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Man or Astroman?) -- Nelson developed an even greater, more intimate bond with his instrument. At times the physical strain of conjuring his new chord shapes would jolt his memory -- reminding him what line he should sing next. Listen close and you’ll hear an occasional strain in his voice -- like a freak-folk Glenn Gould. All that hard work pays off, though: Iced Cherries ultimately leaves you in endorphin-inducing bliss.
Press
[The following press is from Through The Sparks, Nelson’s prior band.]
"Remember the name Jody Nelson, because you'll soon be hearing it mentioned with the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Ron Sexsmith, and A.C. Newman."
-Jim Di Gioia, Quick Before It Melts
"In wordsmith Jody Nelson, Through the Sparks have an ace lyricist who always manages to skirt an idea or pull back the reins before things get too obvious, thus giving every song on Lazarus Beach a great deal of ambiguity and mystique."
-David Nadelle, Tiny Mix Tapes
"This Birmingham, Ala., quintet crafts lustrous indie pop with traces of psychedelia, exotic accents, and blue-eyed soul peppered in to raise it above the fray. Sonic cousins to bands like the Court & Spark, the band's extra dimensions -- usually courtesy their keyboard and synth layers -- add rich textures matching the fecund imagery of Jody Nelson's narratives. Their full-length debut, Lazarus Beach, is one of those records whose charms multiply with repeat listens."
-John Schacht, Creative Loafing
"Over the course of the group’s decade-plus career, frontman Jody Nelson has penned some dark songs about real-life subjects: the encroachment of death, the absurdity of modern life, the tribulations of the American office rat, the insatiable wanderlust of contemporary suburbia."
-Verbicide
"I've talked about how much I like this Birmingham, AL band before, but I think this [Invisible Kids] is the best thing they've done, a slightly psychedelic take on 70s-era Laurel Canyon cocaine-rock"
-Hayden Childs, From Here to Obscurity
“Retro-pop in the vein of The Kinks “Everybody’s in Show Biz” era, Through the Sparks ignite what’s come before them, building it into a where-there’s-smoke-there’s-fire album even though the comparisons are evident, the band avoids being overly enamored with the afore mentioned trend recasting and re-imaging their music.”
-Jim Testa, Jersey Beat
"On their first full-length release, the band thoughtfully combines Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips aspirations with the earthy soul of Calexico. The record opens with the swinging L. Roi, which at first evokes M. Ward fronting an old speakeasy jazz band before smoothly boiling into a heightened crescendo of crooning and horn solos."
-Richard Hewett, No Depression
“Birmingham, Alabama, just might be the last place in the U.S. you’d expect to find an American match for the culturally keen observations-rock of Britain’s Pulp – nevertheless, meet singer/songwriter Jody Nelson and Through the Sparks. The band is no mere doppelganger, though.”
-Fred Mills, Blurt
"I have not been so excited to have heard a debut in some time. Through the Sparks have created an eclectic indie-pop masterpiece. Pleasant, cheery melodies, wonderful orchestration, clever lyrics, not a lot more to be desired...This is a 2007 favorite of mine, definitely."
-Sound Machine Dream
"Lazarus Beach is a sophisticated sprawl of sound and songs, with elements of power pop, 70s singer/songwriter, prog, indie guitar rock, and even some smooth southern soul.
-Stephen Deusner, Pitchfork
"The sterling indie pop of Lazarus Beach is a welcome breath of fresh air from a band that clearly loves music without pretense or posturing. Each track is finely tuned to appeal to the music geek in every listener, full of bouncy, loping piano melodies and softly-muted horns that support verbose, clever lyrics."
-Paste Magazine
“Trippy music for smart people … Through the Sparks are a band with talent and imagination.”
-Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Not gonna lie: I’m kind of obsessed with Birmingham, Ala.’s Skybucket Records, especially this EP from Through the Sparks. It’s a perfectly gauzy, practically glammy slab of summer rock that manages to evoke Mott the Hoople, mojitos and marijuana-laced comestibles, staying super-loose without getting sloppy.”
-Sean Maloney, Nashville Scene
“...it's only fair to note that our local heroes struck more nuggets on Worm Moon Waning than MGMT ever did with their sophomore effort.”
-David Pelfrey, Black & White
“It saunters along, full of this arid countrified indie rock, its swagger uninterrupted as it tips its hat in the direction of the likes of Midlake and even Nada Surf. Frontman Jody Nelson’s vocal is similarly laid back, sugared by vocal harmonies as he tells his tales through myths and dreams and wraps them up in little bundles of melody. It might herald the start of Through the Sparks as a major artist. About time too.”
-Jim Fletcher, Backseat Mafia
"[Through the Sparks] are mining that glorious territory of 70s pop/rock and adding a new level of world wariness to give their record a modern feel…a smart Alabama quintet with enough sweet melodies and darkly humorous lyrics to make John Lennon proud."
-The Beat, Greenville
“An evolved and eclectic mix of spacey ‘70s glam and throwback New Wave within a wash of synth-anchored psychedelia...A unique hybridization of psych-rock, prog and indie influences, Transindifference marks a meaningful shift for Through the Sparks, especially for frontman Jody Nelson.”
-CRAVE
“Through The Sparks has the sound of a band that has listened to a lot of music by disparate artists, and they find a way to incorporate or reinterpret everything they like into their own sound...By the time we're done we've been treated to well-crafted slices of southern rock, psychedelia, indie pop and glam, with soulful vocals and contributions from a large complement of talented musicians headed by Jody Nelson.”
-Scott Galloway, When You Motor Away
“Through the Sparks have excelled on molding moody grinds atop tasteful pop flourishes that give their compositions immediate credibility. Like The Flaming Lips, Through the Spark include heaps of distinct instrumental tastes and imaginative vocals resulting in compositions that are each a distinct entity.”
-GLIDE
“Birmingham, Ala., indie psych/folk mainstays Through The Sparks are anything but predictable. Tapping a vein equal parts New Order to at times Jerry Garcia sitting in with Captain Beefheart, it’s spotless to say the band follows no sonic road map or even direction, for that matter, sonically.”
-Scott Zuppardo, MAGNET
“Through the Sparks conjures up a mighty indie-rock groove, something with the swagger of Spoon when Britt Daniel and co. are strutting their stuff.”
-Sarah Zupko, PopMatters
"Indeed, Through the Sparks are more concerned with writing great pop songs than subscribing to any hyphenated subgenres–something reflected in the breadth of reference points their music touches."
-Danny deZayas, One Track Mind
"When the intricate soundscapes and melancholy harmonies bring to mind Wilson's "Smile," Wilco's "Summerteeth" and the Waterboys' "This Is the Sea," it's happy slogging."
-Good New Music.com
“Vocalist Jody Nelson has an undeniable talent for pop-songwriting, and amid the wonderfully arranged flourishes of guitars, organs and drums he consistently maintains to cool, classic-rock presence of an experienced performer and bandleader”
-Ari Mazer, Southeast Performer
“Lead singer Jody Nelson’s voice conjures the blunt intonations of Tom Petty, but he manages to reel in the bravado in favor of charming synchronicity.”
Honey S. Lapcharoen, Beyond Race
Highlights
Recorded three records with Wooden Wand -- two for Fire Records and one for Three Lobed Recordings
Multiple tours of the U.S. U.K. and Europe with Wooden Wand.
Toured as lead guitarist for St. Paul and the Broken Bones that included a surreal sold-out show at The Hollywood Bowl and a bunch of other things that seem like they didn't really happen. Also toured with Lee Bains and the Glory Fires
Principal songwriter, singer and instrumentalist for Through the Sparks with releases on Skybucket Records and Communicating Vessels.
Recorded and released a record under the name L. Ron Dorado for This is American Music.
Guitarist for numerous Birmingham bands like Duquette Johnston, Wild Sweet Orange, Heath Green and the Makeshifters, 13ghosts for a spell, Janet Simpson, Kate Taylor, John Strohm. Most-proud of an appearance on a couple Whitey Herzogs records.
Session work for Big Legal Mess and engineer for Man or Astroman?
