Tracy Nelson-Tonight at The Towne Crier

Tracy Nelson is a singer without parallel in terms of both technical
ability and emotional directness. John Swenson, writing in Rolling Stone,
asserted, "Tracy Nelson proves that the human voice is the most expressive
instrument in creation." Throughout her illustrious career, now
spanning five decades, Tracy Nelson has never been one to abide
boundaries. She's been able to meld and/or incorporate folk, blues, rock,
country and whatever else you might throw at her into her own musical
persona. Tracy has always been her own master, as strong of character as
she is of voice -- a far cry from today's pop princesses, who are
essentially puppets of packager/marketers whose interest in real music is
both limited and limiting. In the 1960s, Tracy moved to San Francisco
and, in the midst of the era's psychedelic explosion, formed Mother Earth.
The group, true to its origin, was more grounded than freaky but,
nonetheless, was a major attraction at The Fillmore and recorded six
albums. Tracy's own composition "Down So Low," on Mother Earth's first
album, became her signature song, later covered by Etta James, Linda
Rondstadt and Maria Muldaur. Tracy recently included her own stirring live
version of the song on her "prison record," Live From Cell Block
D. After going solo, Tracy garnered her first Grammy nomination for
"After the Fire Is Gone," a hit duet with Willie Nelson. Willie provided
liner notes for the album CD, noting of Tracy's remarkable instrument,
"that tremendous voice has only gotten better over the years." Anyone who
has seen her in recent years will attest that this as true today as it was
then. Come see Tracy live, and you'll find yourself echoing Chicago
Sun Times writer John Milward: "Jeez, what a voice!"