Nelo a hit at BBR

A picture-perfect Central Oregon summer day greeted nearly 400 people for an evening of richly diverse music at Black Butte Ranch last Sunday in the Ranch's Live at the Ranch summer concert.

Nelo, a six-piece band from Austin, Texas took the stage shortly after 5 p.m, after a brief introduction from Black Butte Ranch CEO, Scott Huntsman.

"I had the opportunity to hear Nelo when I was doing a stint down in Austin and thought they would be a great match for our venue and our crowd, and they certainly didn't disappoint," said Huntsman.

Fronted by singer Reid Umstattd and guitarist/songwriter Matt Ragland, Nelo brought to the stage influences from all over the musical map. Distinct in their sound, one couldn't help but hear hints of the Grateful Dead, REM, Counting Crows, Ryan Adams, and Dave Matthews just to name a few. Umstattd's voice, a cross between Michael Stipe of REM and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, is the perfect interpretive instrument for Ragland's writing.

"I listened to a lot of Motown growing up," said Umstattd. "Whatever my dad had on was what I listened to; Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Beatles, a lot of that stuff. Vocally, Michael Stipe and Adam Duritz were definitely vocal influences."

Attending the University of Texas together, Ragland and Unstattd met and found they both had a lot of the same musical interests, and started what would become Nelo.

"We started this about six years ago. Reid was a young singer and I was a young songwriter," explained Ragland. "We kind of hit it off, connected musically, and we kind of felt that we had the makings, the core of a rock band, my writing, his singing."

Despite the obvious comparisons, Nelo prefers to find their own niche while appreciating what they find to be compliments in the comparisons.

"We've heard every kind of comparison, last time we heard we were being compared to Dave Matthews, that was a first," Ragland said. "It's kind of flattering, I mean some of these great bands, you know if you're compared to a great band you can't complain, but you feel kind of silly because we feel like we don't belong in the same sentence as these bands. We're happy to take a compliment, but we feel we have our own brand and do things we want to it."

Opening for Nelo was local band Brent Alan and his Funky Friends. Alan covered hits from the likes of Jackson Browne, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, and performed originals of his own. The diversity of music, all delivered with heavy doses of funk, soul, and jazz, had many in the crowd dancing.

"We were tremendously pleased with the concert," said Huntsman. "I think everyone had a wonderful time. Nelo, the headliner, just really wowed us with their "Austin' sound, and Brent Alan and His Funky Friends were a fantastic opener for us. A great way to cap off the summer here at the Ranch."