Long-time News Tribune music writer has died. His column appeared from 1987 to 2009

Rick Nelson saw a lot of great bands — The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley — at some of the region’s largest venues during his time covering music for The News Tribune.

But intimate settings where the music took center stage, instead of the flash and glitz of megashows, also set his inner turntable spinning.

“Several times, I’ve tried to compile a top-10 list of the shows I’ve seen. I never got one I was satisfied with, but it was surprising how many of the most memorable shows were in relatively small venues,” Nelson wrote in his March 2009 farewell column in The News Tribune.

“The Pretenders at the Temple Theatre in 1994. Chrissie Hynde was quoted months later saying what a great time she had playing in Tacoma. The Tacomans who were there certainly had a great time, thanks to a full-tilt rock ’n’ roll show. It was a blast.”

Nelson, who covered the Puget Sound music scene for The News Tribune for the better part of two decades, died Dec. 16 of pancreatic cancer. He was 71.

Nelson was born in Eugene, Oregon and grew up in Seattle. Friends remembered him for his fierce loyalty, the astounding number of books he’d read and his ability to tell a story.

From 1987 to 2009 he worked as a copy editor at The News Tribune and penned his column. Over the years, he also freelanced music stories for The Everett Herald, The Seattle Times and other publications in the West.

He loved picking the brains of musicians and then telling the rest of us about what he learned.

“I hope the pleasure I’ve had in talking to such talented musicians came across in my columns,” Nelson wrote in his farewell piece. “It’s been my good fortune to ask James Brown ‘What is funk?’ and to get Johnny Cash to tell the story of ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ I discovered that Stevie Ray Vaughan didn’t like talking about himself but loved to talk about other guitarists and what makes them special. The charming Linda Ronstadt was one of the performers who meant it when she said, ‘Come see me after the show.’

“I think Dolly Parton meant it, too, but then she begged off. Backstage, her tour publicist had a straight face when she said, ‘I’m sorry, but Dolly has a big chest cold.’”

Nelson was preceded in death by his wife, Kelly Balmer Williams Nelson, 74, who died Nov. 15, also of cancer.

His good friend, Seattle Times journalist Erik Lacitis, wrote in Nelson’s formal obituary, “There will be no services. That wasn’t Rick’s style.”

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, Nelson might have suggested attending a concert, maybe at a small venue around T-town, as a fitting tribute.

As he wrote in March 2009, “Well, it’s time to sign off. Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting live music. It’s where the magic happens.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2021 at 12:00 PM.