Going Nelo
words by Janine Trinidad
photos by LeeAnn Mueller  Ah, the mid-nineties. Alternative rock and country ruled the charts (can anyone say “Cotton-Eyed Joe”?) while the jazz and big-band instrumentation of retro-swing infiltrated an ever-growing pop genre. Most of us look back on this historical period in music with a fond smirk, seeing fleeting images of the blue and red cover of Crash by The Dave Matthews Band or the chicken-scratch cursive on the cover of The Counting Crows’ August and Everything After. (Ah, to remember album jackets…) Though this era is only fondly remembered by most, Matt Ragland of the Austin-based American traditional rock sextet, nelo, has kept it alive and well.
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