Restless Kid: Rick Nelson at the Cusp of Country-Rock

IT'S TOO BAD Rick Nelson recorded a top 5 single called 'Teen Age Idol', not just because the song is dreary fan-pandering, but because it reinforces the most clichéd perception of him, that he was one of those sanitized, manufactured pop stars who came along after Elvis. That he's somehow inauthentic. But his string of hits (an astonishing seventeen consecutive top 20 singles, starting with his 1957 recording of Fats Domino's 'I'm Walking', and another ten scattered around the rest of his career) were filled with infectious energy and inspired performances, and after a few years in the commercial wilderness, he rebounded to become one of the founders of SoCal Country.