THE RESURRECTION OF Drew Nelson There was a time when Drew


Nelson was a driven man. In the early 90’s he was playing up to 200 gigs a year. As a member of the Back Alley John Revue and his own Drew Nelson Band, he travelled the country playing the Blues, through snowstorms in Northern Ontario and across the endless plains on Western Canada. Fast forward to 2016, and we


find Drew in an entirely different headspace, still playing music, but not so concerned with breaking big. “Right now at this point in my life I’m just trying to enjoy my life”, he says. “I’m not that worried about being a huge success. I was really driven for success in my early years, and now I’m just driven to play music.” Drew’s musical lineage isn’t that


far removed from others who grew up in the heady days of the 60’s and 70’s. He grew up loving the Beatles and Stones, but it was the roots of those bands that fascinated him most. The early Beatles albums sent him scurrying to explore the music of Larry Williams, Carl Perkins and Little Richard. In fact, the first record he bought was The Beatles version of “Long Tall Sally”. The Stones led him to the electric


blues sounds of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. “I wanted to figure out where the heck their songs came from,” remembers Drew. “When I was about 13, I was digging back to find those great Blues artists. I loved taking a trip downtown to check out the record stores. Back then. in Ottawa. when you found a blues album it was like, ‘what a scoop’.


42 BOUNDER MAGAZINE www.bounder.ca


Photo by SCOTT DOUBT


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