Blues legend Tracy Lee Nelson is a true native Californian. He is Luiseno/Diegueno, a descendant of the Guassac family of the La Jolla Indian Reservation and the Mataweer/Duro family of the Mesa Grande Indian Reservation, both in the San Diego area.
Since the 1970s Nelson has played a variety of genres of music, from blues, to rock and roll, to punk rock. His main musical influence was The Beatles; he was fascinated by how they understood chords and put together music.
Thanks to his unique voice, original lyrics and blues guitar playing, Nelson’s performances are raw and straight from the heart. He writes and sings about issues that should have been addressed long ago.
In the 1990s he emerged as a musician with a ground breaking new sound – Native Blues. Since then, this Southern Californian premiere blues artist has traveled across the nation, sweeping the country with his hard hitting perspective on reservation life.
Nelson is a former member of the 1970s hit band Redbone with their song “Come and Get your Love” and is a former Tribal Chairman of the La Jolla Indian Reservation. An avid skateboarder, artist and sculptor, Nelson’s work has been on display at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indians in Washington, D.C., and at the San Diego Museum of Man. He has also had the honor of being men- tioned in Native People Magazine as one of the finest up and coming Native American blues artist. When it doesn’t conflict with his own band’s performances, Nelson still periodically plays with Redbone.
Nelson recently released his eighth CD Blues Loving Man. Inspired by guitar playing greats like BB King and Van Halen, all 15 songs on the album are originals written by Nelson, and the song “My Baby Joanna” is dedicated to his wife.
