Big Boss Man

When Nelson records someone else's song, he completely revises it however he sees fit. No matter if it's a standard like "How Long Blues" or "Sweet Mr. Cleanhead," both of which he recorded (and augmented with mildly racy lyrics) with a band full of ex-Roomful of Blues-ers on 1999's Rounder release Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues. This time around, with the August release of The Legend, the all-star band (guitarist Duke Robillard, Sax Gordon, arranger/trombonist Carl Querfurth) returns, but the album's coming out on Nelson's own Nettie Marie label. And this time the old jazz vocals standard "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" gets the T-99 treatment.

"I rewrote that song. I had always wondered why no black cats ever did that song. I found out -- in that song, they have the word 'mammy.' Forget that for a black man." (He changed it to "big mama" on one line and "my mother" on another.) "And then this line 'Take me back to where I belong.' Forget that, because no black man wants to be told where he belong." (T-99's version: "I find magic in your southern charms.")

A version of Jordan's calypso tune "Run Joe" is another of The Legend's three covers, and it illustrates one of the keystones to Nelson's musical philosophy. "I made the calypso element more pronounced," he says. "When Louis Jordan did it, he made it too fast. To me, when you do music fast you lose all feeling. On that song, you can't understand what the hell he's saying. You're going, 'What'd he say, what'd he say,' all through the tune. But if you bounce it, then everybody can understand what the lyrics are. When I listen to a song I'm not just listening to the music or how the music marries the lyrics. I listen to what the lyrics say and what they mean. Louis Armstrong was hard to understand because he slurred a lot of the lyrics. And he came up with this scat business -- ba-ba-dee-dee-daayyy -- and that was okay, but when you charge people $18 for a CD, you've got to give 'em something."

I ask him if he's heard of screw music. He hasn't, so I explain it to him: It's the slowed-down rap designed for people to listen to while high on cough syrup. "Hmm, that's an interesting idea. Might work as a novelty, but I can't see it doing much in the nightclubs."

And re-creating a nightclub ambience is what his records are all about. Though he's comfortable being described as a blues singer, his albums all have a variety of tempos, song forms and textures. "When I hear an album and the damn thing is so long and it's the same thing from top to bottom, it's monotonous to me. When I do an album, I do it just like it's in a nightclub. You want that atmosphere."

One prominent person who fell under Nelson's spell is Elvis Costello, who played Nelson's "I'm Sure Going to Miss Show Business" over the loudspeakers at the close of every show on his 2003 world tour. "I had never met him, but I was taken to his concert by Professor Wood, who told me I'd get a big surprise," Nelson remembers. "And I told [Wood], 'His music's too loud for me.' I was sittin' in the balcony. When the show was over, he was wrappin' up and he put on a song. And I heard my music: [singing] 'Oh, how I'm gonna miss show business.' And [Wood] told me he plays that when the show is over every night. I watched people leaving, and they would stop and listen to my stuff. So I went backstage and met Elvis and we had a ball. He told me, 'Jimmy, I play your stuff all over the world.' And that was so nice of him to say that. Here lately my name is gettin' out there where it's never been."

Scuttlebutt Caboose

Egg's on my face. Through my editing error last week, we left out By the End of Tonight, this year's winner as the Best New Act in the Press Music Awards. For those not in the know, BTEOT is a young Alvin-based instrumental prog-rock quartet whose new record, A Tribute to Tigers, helped punch their ticket to this past year's South By Southwest. They are somewhat comparable to Austinites Explosions in the Sky (whose music provided much of the sonic backdrop for Friday Night Lights), with a big part of the difference coming from the fact that BTEOT's drummer Jeff Wilson plays an unusual kit. It's not a toy drum kit, as it is often described, but a regular drum set with a pint-sized kick-drum. (Wilson needs a close-in drum set because he has tendonitis, the band's Web site explains.) Sorry, fellows, and congratulations on your well-deserved win.