ten billion butterfly sneezes

It isn’t every day that one awakens, goes to his computer, and is presented with a headline like this:

Talent Scout Ken Nelson Dies at 96.

I made a half-assed tweet¹ about the event early today. I don’t mean to make light of Mr. Nelson’s death in any way. I was taken aback at the headline, and on reading Mr. Nelson’s obituary, discovered that:

Ken Nelson, a longtime talent scout at Capitol Records who produced dozens of No. 1 country music hits and helped push Buck Owens and Merle Haggard to country stardom in the 1960s, has died.

Buck Owens and mighty Merle Haggard; two country legends I’ve loved through the years. And then, this:

Nelson is credited with helping to define the country genre’s twangy “Bakersfield sound,” after he showcased the country singers working in and around Bakersfield in the 1950s.

Once again, music after my own heart. And he was ahead of the times, as witness this:

Nelson was praised for letting artists use their own bands in recording sessions instead of using studio musicians, something that led to a diversity of sounds.

Buck Owens, a singer and guitar player originally produced by Nelson, once described Nelson as “one of the smartest men in the music business. He found artists who wrote their own songs, had their own bands and knew what they wanted to do.”

He was years ahead of his time. He was alt.country when there was no alt in country, because there was no need for the alt. I’m sorry that I hadn’t heard of him and his accomplishments until now.

RIP, Ken Nelson.

-k-

tbbs tags: music, country music

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