NelsonOreilly.com

Music Connection

July 30, 2001-August 21, 2001

“Eve nelson on Willa ford, Billy Crawford, Eva Cassidy”

by Jonathan Widran

The latest press release sent out about Eve Nelson can be forgiven for using the old cliché "hot as a pisto"l to describe the songwriter/producer’s whirlwind studio life these days. Her recent schedule included producing and co-writing various tracks on the new CD ride by Billy Crawford, whom she and her partner Bernadette O’Reilly (who run studios in Manhattan’s flatiron district and another in the East Hampton long island, artist colony called the Springs) discovered six years ago when he was 12 years old.

Nelson also co wrote, produced and mixed two songs for Willa Ford’s debut CD on Lava Records, co produced Heather Nova’s song “Like Lovers Do” with Bryan Adams, did three tracks for an upcoming Laura Branigan comeback album, and others for a second Motorbaby release. On the purely songwriting side, “I KnowYou by Heart,” a tune she co-wrote some years ago, is now riding high on the charts thanks to the posthumous success of singer Eva Cassidy’s songbird album.
“My favorite thing is to begin a production assignment by co-writing songs with an artist, get in their heads in order to figure out the best way to have a voice in what they want,” says Nelson, who launched her writing career in the early nineties with Donna Summer and Angela Ruth, “I don’t have one specific technique for all artists because I prefer to treat each artist as an individual with a unique vision. It works two ways. I rely on the artist to guide me and yet I’m also their voice in the studio.”

Of all the artists Nelson has worked with, Billy Crawford is unique in that she and O’Reilly launched their production company by signing the multi-talented pop singer and dancer. Nelson explains that O’Reilly is the visionary who can practically see ahead and figure out if the development of a certain artist will pay off, while Nelson (who taught herself to engineer by recording songs at night while working as a post production composer by day) is the nuts and bolts person in the studio.
“We wanted to teach Billy how to write, and we included him in sessions with other collaborators as we came up with material for the new album,” she relates. “Lyrics are a very important part of the process for me. With Billy, Willa and Heather, we asked them what they wanted to write about. With a new artist, I come up with two or three rudimentary track ideas to begin with, and I let him or her decide on one they like. Then it begins to takes on a different shape. Then we build the production around the song. I love to use a combination of organic instruments and machine generated sounds, a combination of old and new school.”

Although Nelson’s studios are state-of-the art and the New York facility features a full pro tools 5 setup, she prefers multiple live vocal takes (up to tour or five) over auto tuning via computer; she’ll use the machines for special sonic effects whenever necessary. Her approach to getting the best vocals is like that of an acting coach striving to bring out the most emotional performance.

“With Billy, I asked him to close his eyes and concentrate on what he was singing,” she explains. “The goal was to get him to hone in and act out the lyric, actually become the character in the story rather than lust a singer who does great rifts and is simply good technically. I’m really after powerful, heartfelt performances. I am very selective about the projects I pick to work on, and he bottom line is that the singer has to move me I have to connect both creatively and personally. I love the joy that comes out of that working experience.”

return to press page