Talking to Gunnar Nelson

Stefani M.C. Janelli talks to Gunnar Nelson about music, legacy and family. As half of the iconic duo Nelson, Gunnar - along with his twin brother, Matthew - is set to bring their acoustic show, “A Night of Nelsons,” to the Newton Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24.

This unique event weaves together hits spanning three generations of Nelson family artistry, from the pioneering days of “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” television show to their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame father Ricky Nelson’s groundbreaking hits to their chart-topping singles, such as “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.”

Q: Your family has been in the entertainment business for generations. What inspired you and your brother to want to join the family business?

A: I guess the best way for me to answer this question would be to put it in sports terms. I want you to imagine that you were born a Manning - and all you had around you from the day you were born was football. Football everywhere. At the highest level. You had Arch - you had Archie - you had Peyton ... and you’re part of that legacy.

What that does is it gives you great social proof that something that seems unattainable to the average person is just what your family does. This exceptional musical lifestyle was just our family’s normal. We had great examples all around us that living your musical dream and doing it at the highest of heights was 100 percent possible.

Q: You’re currently the only family in history to have three successive generations of No. 1 hitmakers with your hit “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.” What does that mean to you both?

A: “Currently” my eye. (laughing) I double-dog dare another family to top that. It’s an honor. I also love the fact that we’re the first generation that actually wrote our own No. 1’s.

Q: Were there any challenges and expectations growing up to be a part of the family dynasty?

A: Well, I think what you’re really asking is whether there was any overt pressure to be part of the family legacy. Not at all. We were totally free to go and do whatever it is we wanted to do - it just so happened that what we wanted to do from the day we were born was to make music with each other and make the family proud.

Each generation of our family achieved great milestones in their own era with music that was relevant to the time that they were in. Example: Grandpa Ozzie had a No. 1 hit with a song called “And Then Some” in 1935 with his big band. Big band music (dance music as they called it) was all the rage back in that day because the culture demanded it.

Actually, I’m a little jealous that I wasn’t a part of that generation. You know, the generation that really cared about everything. At that time, kids in a household were getting dressed up in suits to come downstairs for dinner for crying out loud. How elegant is that?

But that was the era that Grandpa Ozzie made his mark long before the television show. Our dad was not one just of the pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll when it was brand new - he was single-handedly responsible for smuggling rock ‘n’ roll into mainstream American living rooms at a critical time in its history as one of the founders of the country-rock movement in 1967 with his Stone Canyon Band.

I honestly don’t know which had more impact - but each fact is impressive by itself. Both stats racked up by the same person is miraculous. It’s definitely something for me to be very, very proud of.

All I knew is that I was going to do my absolute best at all times making my music. That’s what I learned from Grandpa Ozzie. He had that ethic - no matter what it is you do, be the best at it. And that’s the way he lived.

When he was a janitor, he aspired to be the best janitor on planet Earth. That carried over into everything that he did, which was nothing less than inspirational. I honestly believe it’s that Nelson family work ethic that rubbed off on me and Matthew that made us always want to be the absolute best of what we did.

Q: How do you feel your music differs from that of your grandparents and father? Anything that is the same?

A: I might be biased, but I happen to think (our music is) pretty darned good. From the beginning, the music that we made was different and special from the other generations because we were pulling from all of our influences while we were growing up.

It created an amalgam of influences that resulted in a sound that was very unique and impossible to categorize. Is this rock? Is this country? Is this pop? The answer is yes.

While all of our other contemporaries in Los Angeles at the time were coming from a very strict blues background, we were more influenced by the country and folk that was happening with the Laurel Canyon scene when we were growing up.

So when Nelson came out, it had the same power that gave it rock credibility, but the arrangements were far more melodic than the typical blues fare that bands like Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith were pulling from.

On the upside, that made us completely unique. The downside was we had a very difficult time trying to find other acts that we could tour with that made sense as a package. I suppose it was the same situation a band like Boston found itself in back in their day. Our answer to that was to start out as headliners and fund our own tour off of the “After the Rain” album. It wound up working out quite well for us.

Q: The Nelson family has entertained audiences in what you call “the people connection business” – for over 100 years. Can you tell us what you mean by that phrase?

A: That comes from a conversation that I had with my grandmother Harriet in 1988. Matthew and I were going in and out of the demo studio writing and recording the songs that would eventually make up the “After The Rain” album. This process took years.

We went down to visit Harriet at her house in Laguna around that time, and she began the conversation by asking us why it was taking so long. (Apparently back in her day, a big band could make an entire album in two hours. That was humbling.)

But in that conversation, she gave us some of our best advice that we’d ever be given. She said, “I want you to always remember this: The Nelson family has never been in the music business. We’ve never been in the TV or film business. We’ve never been in the entertainment business. We’ve been in the connection business. Don’t ever forget it.”

We never have. The love and respect of people has been the key to our family success for over a century. That is a legacy to be proud of ... and we very much are.

Q: Fans might be most familiar with you from your MTV days in the ’90s to “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” What was your favorite memory from those years?

A: What I remember about filming “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was the fact that we did it in the middle of summer in Los Angeles. We all had to pretend that we were celebrating New Year’s Eve. The band and the audience. That was sort of surreal.

But Mr. Clark was an amazing man and a true supporter of Matthew and Gunnar from the very beginning, which we will always appreciate. As a matter of fact, the first time the public at large saw us perform was the month after our father died, and Mr. Clark called us and asked us if we would be willing to sing a song tribute at that year’s “American Music Awards.”

Q: How has your sound evolved from those days? Biggest changes?

A: I’m very proud of the work that I’ve done with Nelson. Nelson was the band that I wanted with the sound that I wanted before I knew what I wanted in a band or a sound. Remember, we were only 20 when our first stuff came out.

I love the passion and energy of doing that arena rock, but I know that I’ve grown by leaps and bounds as a musician and a songwriter. I’m working on a brand-new project that is best described sonically as a combination of Joe Walsh-era Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s really exciting stuff.

It is different from the vintage Nelson stuff we were doing back in the day but it definitely shares DNA. The core is always going to be the two brothers singing as one.

Q: Your show coming up at the Newton Theatre is a new type of show for you. You’ll be performing as a duo with only two guitars and vocals. What inspired this show?

A: It’s actually as an acoustic duo that we’ve gotten every single break in the music business that we’ve ever had. It’s how we write our songs. It’s how we got our first deal with the legendary John Kalodner. It’s in that format that we performed our largest show date, which was to 70,000 people in Erie, Pa., who just came out to see Matthew and Gunnar Nelson perform our new hits as an acoustic duo. This is our wheelhouse. The show is going to prove that.

Q: What are you most looking forward to with these shows?

A: We’re coming home! The Nelson family is in the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Everything Nelson generated from New Jersey. To us, this is a hometown gig. We always give 100 percent ... . But because we’re playing to our people, I suspect we’re going to be giving 105 percent at this one!

Q: How do you plan to keep your family’s legacy alive while also creating your own path?

A: We’ve been doing that very thing for the last 40 years. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and let our audience find us and continue to grow. We’ve never been chasing trends. We’ve always thought quality writing and quality performing is what it’s all about.

A career in music is nothing more than a series of comebacks. You never know when you’re gonna catch your next lick. We stay the course and stay true to ourselves. Treat our lives like a marathon and not a sprint. Good things tend to happen.

We’ve got a few surprises coming up this year that I’m not allowed to talk about yet. Let’s just say it’s going to put us prominently back on television in a very legitimate way and introduce a new generation of music lovers to Nelson’s music.

Q: What songs can we expect to hear at the show?

A: Both our biggest hits and our father’s biggest hits. Examples would be “Love and Affection,” “After the Rain,” “More Than Ever,” “Only Time Will Tell,” “Travelin’ Man,” “Hello Mary Lou,” “Lonesome Town” and “Garden Party.” The biggest challenge with this show is pairing it down to fit within a 70-minute format. There are a lot of hits that people love for us to choose from.

It’s important to note that this is far more than just a concert. It’s an event. We present ourselves as a cross between the Everly Brothers and the Smothers Brothers. We have a lot of great memories, a lot of laughs and a lot of legacy. It all adds up to a heck of a great time.