​San Francisco based folk musician, Mark Nelsen has released a new music video for his new country single, ​​Tennessee Valley​. Nelsen is a founding member of the neo psych band, Electric Shepherd, but even after breaking away from the heavy psych rock sound of his full band, Nelsen's sound is very diverse within the realm of his own solo work. His previous release, Homeward was an ode to space travel and self discovery, embodying far out, reverbed and electric guitar compositions. His new single, Tennessee Valley / Girl from Mendo​ is a stripped down country record.

Nelsen is always going to have a very traditional almost Appalachian folk undertone to his music, but ​Tennessee Valley​ (which is no where near Appalachia) just came outright with a simple and unapologetic country folk style. It will be interesting to hear what genre Mark Nelsen touches on next.​ -je

Nelsen & Farney consists of San Francisco based singer/songwriters, Devin Farney and Mark Nelsen. You may know Mark from the heavy psych rock band, Electric Shepherd and Devin as the keyboardist of the 60s revivalist band, The Love Dimension.

We're always excited to share new music and Nelsen & Farney have given us the honor of premiering their latest musical effort entitled, One For Many Roads. If you like Simon and Garfunkel-esque folk music, you'll be into this record.

"We're a songwriting project and live acoustic band that began in 2013, peripherally to our respective solo work. We have since played a handful of local shows while working on our debut LP, "One for Many Roads" - produced by Devin at his home studio. This collection of songs contains melodically rich vocal harmonies and heavy Americana/folk + British/indie-psych-pop influence. Some key inspirations for Nelsen & Farney include CSNY, Lennon/McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, Dirty Projectors, Everly Brothers, and Kings of Convenience. The songs on "One for Many Roads" were individually written by me and Devin, but shaped together as a band." - Mark Nelsen

"… It's good to have finally found a home for these songs, some of which have been lying around dormant for the better part of a decade. It took a while to finish, but it happened very organically, which is how it had to be." - Devin Farney

Take a listen to the album in its entirety and don't miss the duo's album release show at The Lost Church in San Francisco on September 30th!

Editor's Note: Jonathan Cárdenas of Pow Magazine and San Francisco Great Society put a lot of time into curating this exclusive peek at the upcoming festival, Gathering of the Tribes. This fest celebrates and works to promote and preserve the spirit of psych music in San Francisco. Founder, Dennis Gonzales is very passionate about his work and his efforts to support psych musicians from all over the US. The Bay Area is lucky to have him and the community of amazing promoters and musicians who help keep the spirit and tradition of supportive, familial music and arts communities alive and well. -je

The Gathering Of The Tribes is a festival centralized exclusively in itself and its own breed of musicians and artists. San Francisco has had other festivals in past years, but this one aims to showcase the Bay Area’s breed of psychedelia and its sub-genres, as well as celebrate its musical and artistic ancestry. The name is borrowed, or you could even say revitalized—resurrected—from the Human Be-In that took place in Golden Gate Park, January 14, 1967. This is when Haight-Ashbury became symbolically immortalized as a counter-culture mecca. Our festival celebrates San Francisco’s past and present, and aims to push forward its music and arts in a positive and progressive direction, preserving it for the good of the Bay Area and to keep things groovy.

“We are the San Francisco Preservation Society—God save the Acid Tests, Beatniks and notoriety.”

Hopefully you got that reference. But no, we’re the San Francisco Great Society. 

Founder, Dennis Gonzales: I've been running Pow Magazine since 1986 and being entrenched in the music community for several years as a social media journalist, I can tell you SF music is not only alive, it is about to explode into a new movement unlike anything seen since the first music scene in 1965. Everything about our Society and our festival is a familial, grass roots effort.  Amoeba is sponsoring the event—they too have promoted it on their Facebook page as well as Twitter. Pow Magazine, Counter Culture Artist Management, and Innerlight Presents are altogether presenting this festival. We have reached out to the best of the Bay, and most have said “yes.”

Clay Andrews of The Spiral Electric and Innerlight Presents: If the festival is comprised of bands that are all touring and far away, and everybody has all their records—that’s great and all; you have to bring people to the event, but at the same time it’s like—don’t just throw a fest where you just bring an import of things because that’s not really doing anything for the local scene. It’s not exposing people to what’s actually happening right now in their backyards.

Derek See SF DJ, musician and music collector: One thing I’m especially excited about is hearing and meeting bands that I don’t know even though they're local. Because of what i do for a living, i have to get up real early in the morning on weekends—I do go out and see live music when I can, but never as much as I’d like to, whereas at this festival I’m just super stoked to be able to experience and hang out with like-minded folks.

Performing at SFGS: Gathering of The Tribes
at Public Works in San Francisco on September 13th

The Gentle Cycle
Buzzmutt
The Spiral Electric
LSD and the Search for God
Down and Outlaws
Cellar Doors
Down Dirty Shake
The Love Dimension
Mark Nelsen
Sea Dramas
California Raga Association
Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah
The Green Door
Carlton Melton
Mystery Flavors
The She’s
Electric Shepherd
Zodiac Death Valley

Visuals by:

White Light Prism - vimeo.com/user6728976
Mad Alchemy - www.madalchemy.net
Andy Puls - www.videopaws.com

DJs:

Abel Oleson
Derek See
Michael Tarin

We promised that we would premiere local singer/songwriter extraordinaire, Mark Nelsen’s new music video this week, and now we are fulfilling that promise.

The title track from Nelsen’s new solo album, Homeward has been morphed into a beautiful live action music video, and the film is just as impressive as the music. With a ‘50s era art nouveau mystique, and hazy intergalactic touches, this video brings a new perspective on psych music and experimental local rock and roll. Mark Nelsen has a unique artistic vision for this new album, and we think his creative ideas and productions should be praised.

If you missed his album release show at the Vortex Room last weekend, you can catch his full live band, Mark Nelsen Band at the Down Dirty Shake residency at Milk Bar tomorrow night. You won’t regret checking out his band, and indulging in the strange outer space experience he has created around his new album Homeward. -je

Mark Nelsen - Homeward from Andrew Herwitz on Vimeo.

San Francisco based minimalist avant singer songwriter, Justine Lucas has touched our hearts with her recordings of smooth rhythmic guitar melodies, and softly haunting atmospheric backdrops of birds singing, and natural sounds bellowing under her beautiful voice. She released an album last year entitled, Hologram Lagoon, and you can check it out in its entirety via Bandcamp.

Justine will be performing live this weekend on July 5th at the Vortex Room to celebrate, fellow musician and songwriter, Mark Nelsen’s album release. You may recognize Lucas from her work in The Jaunting Martyrs. Her solo music is a lot sweeter and calming, but her talent translates through every project she works and sings on.

We at The Deli think you should listen to her music, buy her album, and see her play live. Not everything has to be in your face to be relevant and awesome. Sometimes a subtle touch is all you need when it comes to good music. -je