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...

It’s hard to conceive of now, but to kids in the late 50’s/early 60’s Rick Nelson was as vivid a presence as the smarty kid next door. His singing career, which took off spectacularly from the first time he ever sang on the show (“I’m Walkin’”, April 1957), was inextricably bound with the show, as he came to have a set three-minute musical spot at the end of the half hour, whether it fit into the plot or not. A weekly prime time slot on ABC is nothing to sniff at—but it can’t account totally for singles sales in excess of $57 million.