The multimedia tribute features live music of Ricky Nelson’s hit songs, like “Garden Party” and “Hello Mary Lou,” performed by the twins, punctuated by video footage of the family and interviews with celebrities who influenced the star.
Celebrities offering their memories about Nelson include Kris Kristofferson, Chris Isaak, John Fogerty and Paul McCartney.
“McCartney says my father was known only as a rock ’n’ roll star in England,” Matthew Nelson said. “They never saw the show there.”
“If he’s cool enough for Sir Paul, he’s cool enough for me,” Gunnar Nelson added.
A favorite clip from the show is the boys at 2 years old playing plastic guitars while their dad strums the acoustic guitar.
“We’re dancing around in our Huggies,” Matthew Nelson said. “We get a pretty collective ‘ah’ and then laughs from the audience.”
Of course, there is footage of their famous grandparents, who started in the music business before starring in their own radio and later TV series.
Ozzie Nelson died in 1975 when the twins were 8, but they were very close, Matthew Nelson said. They were also “incredibly close” to their grandmother, they said, and she advised them on their career until she died in 1994.
The twins started their own music career at age 12 playing local clubs. But it was difficult to find a label, Gunnar Nelson said.
“Record people were afraid of nepotism,” he said. “But we turned around people who were naysayers in the beginning.”
And Matthew Nelson pointed out that they sold a few million records to people who had no idea who their dad was.
One of the things that their father told them was to write their own songs, they said.
