He's part of something incredible: The lowdown with Rick Nelson's youngest son

Singer/songwriter Rick Nelson first entered the spotlight when he was only eight years old. His parents finally relented and let he and his older brother David appear on the radio version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in early 1949.

That show became synonymous with the ideal 1950s American family, but it also blew scores of family doors wide open with the emerging beat of rock'n'roll. After Elvis Presley dominated pop culture in 1956, Rick swiftly followed, cutting his first record ["I'm Walkin'"] while he was only 16.

View slideshow: Rick and Kris Nelson, Ozzie and Harriet, Sam and his mom, and more

"Tricky Ricky" as his longtime lead guitarist James Burton fondly called him, never looked back. Fifty-three Rick Nelson singles landed on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973, making the singer one of the most successful solo recording artists of the 20th century.

After Rick embraced his country rock roots in the early '70s, his recordings didn't sell as much. But he gained much critical acceptance, doing things his way and remaining a popular concert draw until his premature death on New Year's Eve 1985.

His youngest son, Sam, is proud of his family's legacy. Though he has remained in his family's shadow for a number of years, working behind the scenes, that era may be coming to a close. In an exclusive interview with this writer [Part One, featuring his relationship with Rick, appeared earlier today], Sam has been sharing his intriguing life story.

The conversation kicks off again as Sam reveals whether his relationship with his mother has endured, his Grandma Harriet's personality away from the cameras, becoming the first Nelson in two generations to attend college, and why he didn't pursue a music degree.

Later, the musician discusses how he learned the ins and outs of the record industry as an intern at MCA, his father's Legacy box set, becoming a successful A&R representative for Capitol Records, spearheading the efforts to restore his dad's music catalog, and if a Rick Nelson film biography will ever see the light of day...

The Sam Nelson Interview, Part Two

Tell us about your grandparents on the Harmon side.

I lived with my grandparents on the Harmon side during my parents’ divorce. My grandfather [Tom won the Heisman Trophy while playing football for the University of Michigan in 1940] passed away in 1990 of a massive heart attack. It was especially difficult to lose him, as he was a father figure to me. I also referred to him as “Pop.”

My grandmother (Elyse) is still alive at age 94. She was an actress and a model for Universal [her stage name was Elyse Knox; The Mummy’s Tomb with Lon Chaney, Jr. is one of her notable films] and later Monogram Pictures in the 1940s.

She became a stay-at-home mom when my grandfather married her, and she raised my mom, Aunt Kelly, and Uncle Mark [he currently stars in the CBS series NCIS, a ratings bonanza]. She’s one of the most incredible people in the world.

[Author's Note: Sadly, Ms. Knox passed away only 40 days after this interview appeared on February 16, 2012, of natural causes].

Has your relationship with your mom, Kris Harmon, gotten better over the years?

We’re absolutely close. She lives in New Mexico, so it’s a little bit of a trip to visit her. She’s incredibly creative. I’ll call her and ask her about ideas and what she thinks.

As you get older, things that were important aren’t important anymore. Problems aren’t problems anymore. You work through them, or you don’t. But for the most part, you hope to. I think we’re in a good way together, and we have a good relationship.

She and Uncle Dave never really mended fences. They were cordial. Again, as time goes by, time goes by. I know that after Uncle Dave passed in January 2010, my mom wrote a fantastic letter to his wife, Yvonne. They’re starting to rekindle and communicate a little more. Hopefully that will spawn into something more meaningful.

What was your Grandma Harriet like?

She was awesome. She was funny, smart, witty, very classy, and possessed an incredible grace about her until she passed away on October 2, 1994. She had that energy, that thing. When Grandma walked into a room, you knew she was there. All eyes turned to her.

There was no arrogance about who she was. Grandma wasn’t a jerk to anybody ever. She was just an amazing, amazing woman. I couldn’t have asked for a better grandmother.

I think she realized when my dad died how cheated I was for the most part, growing up without parents, being left to my own devices to figure everything out. Grandma really made an effort to take me under her wing and educate me to a certain degree and indulge me with the family history, make me know I was part of something incredible.

She didn’t have to do that. Honestly, in a lot of ways it really set the course for me and my confidence in wanting to do things that other people in the family didn’t. For example, school. Grandpa Ozzie was the last person in my family to attend college until I went. That wanting to "be better" feeling happened when she took that chance with me.

So where did you attend college?

I went to college in Europe for a little while, but I ended up at Boston College, where I ultimately graduated. In fact, I went to high school in Massachusetts, so I spent a lot of time on the East Coast, in a boarding school, actually.

I have a degree in Psychology and a minor in Film. Music was not a part of that process, and I did that on purpose. I just didn’t want music to become a task. I didn’t want to start feeling like my understanding of what I know music to be needed a grade attached to it.

So I kept those separate. Psychology is the study of human behavior; it’s connected to everything you do in life. Working in business, being in music, writing, and being creative is all a part of that process.

What was your first job?

During my senior year in high school, I did a summer internship at MCA Records around 1993 at an administrative level, nothing profound. But I was definitely listening to new music, dealing with record labels, trying to secure demo deals, helping other bands, and in a band myself. Basically just running the L.A. rat race.

I quickly got an idea of what the music business was all about. Seeing how things work, how everything is politics, how everything is who you know [networking], just figuring all that stuff out at a very young age. Thankfully that later evolved into my gig with Capitol.

You know, music has always been the key in my career. I believe you are where you need to be. That’s exactly where I needed to be at the time. Working for the labels was an incredible education, an incredible school for what I’m doing now.

I made great friends and an outstanding network of people. They don’t talk, they do. That’s the most important thing. I’ve learned a lot, and now I’m taking those tools with me to really do well by my family.

Did you work on your dad’s well-received Legacy box set, released in 2000?

Yes, I helped Bob Hyde [then-Vice President of A&R for EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets] and my siblings, bringing in song suggestions and to a certain degree, A&Ring the project.

I was much younger then, and I wasn’t at Capitol at that point. It was a collective family experience, sort of a magical little moment in my dad’s retrospective career. I’m very proud of that box set.

What were some of the projects you worked on during your tenure with Capitol Records?

Beginning in 2005, I started working at Capitol in A&R in catalog with these legacy artists – amazing talents like N.E.R.D., Megadeth, Pat Benatar, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin [the platinum-selling Dino: The Essential Dean Martin], Nat King Cole, and my dad.

I helped put together some pretty big projects over there that were very successful, including theRicky Nelson Sings DVD [2005, directed by John Scheinfeld], Greatest Hits [2005] andGreatest Love Songs [2007]. By the way, I helped produce the latter.

The label was virtually done with legacy or catalogue artists at that time. With my dad, it was like,Oh whatever, we’ll just put something out. Oddly enough, Ricky Nelson Sings went gold andGreatest Hits almost did. That blew everybody’s mind. It was the first time my dad had really shone in a long time, perhaps 25 years.

I also A&R'd Greatest Love Songs a couple of years later, and unfortunately, it didn't get the love it deserved. The players changed, and the label itself was just looking for the fastest way to the finish line. No marketing and they blew the opportunity. Regardless, I’m really proud of that record.

Initially when I first started working there, Capitol was very creative. There was an incredible team of people trying to be innovative, and it wasn’t just an artist’s “greatest hits.” And if it was a greatest hits, it was released with a strategy to make it more interesting and successful. What a concept.

Unfortunately, as time went on, it became basically unimaginative greatest hits packages only. As we all know, the record industry for the most part, especially over at EMI, has gotten a little rough. That idea of creativity and trying to breathe new life into older projects sadly went away.

John Scheinfeld directed Ricky Nelson Sings. Do you think he might tackle a biography of your dad?

John is a fantastic, great guy. He basically helped launch us again. He put my father in a completely different place with the performance special. I wish him nothing but success, and he’s definitely earned it.

John has talked about doing a film about my dad, and now that he’s doing an Elvis movie [Fame & Fortune], it’s something that might really happen. It’s a pretty exciting thought.

MORE TO COME: Don't go anywhere, as PART THREE ["Sam Nelson, Musician: Revisiting H Is Orange and More With Rick Nelson's Son"] continues the story. Sam sheds light on his musical aspirations, his rock band [H Is Orange], their unfortunate connection to September 11, the first song he composed that harkened back to his father's fateful last flight, the Rick Nelson Company's former relationship with Elvis Presley Enterprises, and why he can't convince his sister to sing more often in public...