Rick Nelson Back On The Boards

My first memory of Rick Nelson’s music is laughing when I heard “Hello Mary Lou” or “TraveTin’ Man” on the radio. It wasn’t that the song struck my childish brain as so funny, I'd just been conditioned by his image on The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet—that of the family wisenheimer, firing off snappy comebacks to Mom, Pop, and most frequently David, while still a pipsqueak in Converse All-Stars. I couldn’t believe he was singing seriously—would he work “you’re such a dope, David,” into the lyrics somehow? Where was the punchline? But Rick’s infatuation with rock ’n’ roll was serious and had been heavily featured in the show’s plotlines since 1956. Girlfriends had even been introduced, to my disgust...