Elizabeth Nelson
@paranoiacs.bsky.social
Singer-songwriter for the Paranoid Style, contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, The Ringer, Pitchfork, LGM.
I had a wonderful time over at the Kreative Kontrol podcast, discussing the new Replacements' 41st anniversary 'Let It Be' boxset alongside industry legend Peter Jesperson, Rhino Records' visionary A&R man Jason Jones and the courteous Vish Khanna. Listen and buy! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
November 19, 2025 at 3:30 AM
I had a wonderful time over at the Kreative Kontrol podcast, discussing the new Replacements' 41st anniversary 'Let It Be' boxset alongside industry legend Peter Jesperson, Rhino Records' visionary A&R man Jason Jones and the courteous Vish Khanna. Listen and buy! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
"Following the circus of Watergate, the pointless slog of Vietnam and the utter debasement of counterculture ethos, his idiosyncratic trip came into bold relief." Happy 80th birthday to Neil Young. Here's a piece I wrote about the 'On the Beach' for the Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
November 13, 2025 at 2:40 AM
"Following the circus of Watergate, the pointless slog of Vietnam and the utter debasement of counterculture ethos, his idiosyncratic trip came into bold relief." Happy 80th birthday to Neil Young. Here's a piece I wrote about the 'On the Beach' for the Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
LAST REMINDER! The Paranoid Style is making a Rare Public Appearance at the Pinhook in Durham on Sunday 11/9 opening for the Hypos. A reporter once told me I sang “Surly songs of insurrection.” I never disputed it. Paranoid Style at practice. Take a look and then get yr. ticket.
November 9, 2025 at 7:24 AM
LAST REMINDER! The Paranoid Style is making a Rare Public Appearance at the Pinhook in Durham on Sunday 11/9 opening for the Hypos. A reporter once told me I sang “Surly songs of insurrection.” I never disputed it. Paranoid Style at practice. Take a look and then get yr. ticket.
It ain't every day in the field of journalism that one gets singled out for something as gratifying and prestigious as ASCAP's Deems Taylor award, especially in the competitive Paul Williams Liner Notes category. Paul Williams! Composer of so many of my favorite songs. Special thanks to Sony Legacy.
October 31, 2025 at 2:56 AM
It ain't every day in the field of journalism that one gets singled out for something as gratifying and prestigious as ASCAP's Deems Taylor award, especially in the competitive Paul Williams Liner Notes category. Paul Williams! Composer of so many of my favorite songs. Special thanks to Sony Legacy.
There is not a better music newsletter than David Cantwell and Charles Hughes' 'No Fences Review,' so it's always a fulsome privilege when they weigh in on the Paranoid Style. Cantwell on our newest, Linda Rondstadt themed single "It's A Dog's Breakfast." nofencesreview.substack.com/p/turn-it-up...
October 28, 2025 at 6:38 PM
There is not a better music newsletter than David Cantwell and Charles Hughes' 'No Fences Review,' so it's always a fulsome privilege when they weigh in on the Paranoid Style. Cantwell on our newest, Linda Rondstadt themed single "It's A Dog's Breakfast." nofencesreview.substack.com/p/turn-it-up...
Breaking news! New Paranoid Style LP 'Known Associates' debuting on 2/13/26 courtesy of Bar-None Records on its 40th anniversary. A show without intermission. How do you feel about the game? Are you still the same? Baby, yr still the same. Preorder here. theparanoidstyle.bandcamp.com/album/known-...
October 23, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Breaking news! New Paranoid Style LP 'Known Associates' debuting on 2/13/26 courtesy of Bar-None Records on its 40th anniversary. A show without intermission. How do you feel about the game? Are you still the same? Baby, yr still the same. Preorder here. theparanoidstyle.bandcamp.com/album/known-...
Big Paranoid Style news! New single "It's A Dog's Breakfast (for LR)" is available now! Plus new LP 'Known Associates' is available as a Bandcamp preorder! Check out the new tune, a tribute to my hero Linda Ronstadt, with an accompanying essay at Southwest Review! southwestreview.com/track-premie...
October 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Big Paranoid Style news! New single "It's A Dog's Breakfast (for LR)" is available now! Plus new LP 'Known Associates' is available as a Bandcamp preorder! Check out the new tune, a tribute to my hero Linda Ronstadt, with an accompanying essay at Southwest Review! southwestreview.com/track-premie...
I've been lucky to get some packages in the mail, but I'm unsure I have ever received a delivery so thoroughly gratifying as this lurid bonanza: The entire Rhino Records reissue campaign for Little Feat, my favorite band of all time. If you give me weed, whites, wine and reissues.
October 12, 2025 at 2:49 AM
I've been lucky to get some packages in the mail, but I'm unsure I have ever received a delivery so thoroughly gratifying as this lurid bonanza: The entire Rhino Records reissue campaign for Little Feat, my favorite band of all time. If you give me weed, whites, wine and reissues.
"The Euros win and win with flair. They win there; they win here. Brimming with suave European sophistication, they make rubes of us. Somehow, this has got to stop." Over at The Ringer, I wrote about eight ways the U.S. Ryder Cup team can cease the bleeding. www.theringer.com/2025/10/06/g...
October 6, 2025 at 7:15 PM
"The Euros win and win with flair. They win there; they win here. Brimming with suave European sophistication, they make rubes of us. Somehow, this has got to stop." Over at The Ringer, I wrote about eight ways the U.S. Ryder Cup team can cease the bleeding. www.theringer.com/2025/10/06/g...
"Tell me about appearing on Kent Hrbek's hunting and fishing show?" Check out the first edition of my brand new 'Known Associates' podcast brought to you by the fine people at Southwest Review! A spellbinding convo with the amazing Craig Finn from the Hold Steady! southwestreview.com/known-associ...
September 30, 2025 at 6:27 PM
"Tell me about appearing on Kent Hrbek's hunting and fishing show?" Check out the first edition of my brand new 'Known Associates' podcast brought to you by the fine people at Southwest Review! A spellbinding convo with the amazing Craig Finn from the Hold Steady! southwestreview.com/known-associ...
In writing the liner notes for the amazing 41st anniversary box set of the Replacements' 'Let It Be,' one of the true highlights was outtakes like the rad "Street Girl," featured today over at Rhino. I'll always feel gratitude for how Westerberg wrote about women. Listen here: tinyurl.com/mt7kujcj
September 26, 2025 at 2:05 AM
In writing the liner notes for the amazing 41st anniversary box set of the Replacements' 'Let It Be,' one of the true highlights was outtakes like the rad "Street Girl," featured today over at Rhino. I'll always feel gratitude for how Westerberg wrote about women. Listen here: tinyurl.com/mt7kujcj
“The astonishing legacy of a scriptless film with zero budget, a first time director, no stars and a studio that never got the concept.” Over at the Washington Post, I wrote about Rob Reiner's new Spinal Tap memoir “A Fine Line Between Stupid And Clever.” Gift link here! wapo.st/3IuXCR7
September 18, 2025 at 2:16 AM
“The astonishing legacy of a scriptless film with zero budget, a first time director, no stars and a studio that never got the concept.” Over at the Washington Post, I wrote about Rob Reiner's new Spinal Tap memoir “A Fine Line Between Stupid And Clever.” Gift link here! wapo.st/3IuXCR7
"The very moniker Replacements suggesting something slippery and Warholian about the fungible masks of modern celebrity. To be, or not to be—is it a question?" From my liner notes. So psyched to be a part of Rhino's revelatory new 'Let It Be' reissue. Pre-orders here. store.rhino.com/en/rhino-sto...
August 31, 2025 at 2:45 AM
"The very moniker Replacements suggesting something slippery and Warholian about the fungible masks of modern celebrity. To be, or not to be—is it a question?" From my liner notes. So psyched to be a part of Rhino's revelatory new 'Let It Be' reissue. Pre-orders here. store.rhino.com/en/rhino-sto...
"They told me I'd never make it—I told them where to stick it." Guys and guys and guys. New Paranoid Style single"Tearing The Ticket" available from Bar-None Records now. With Matt Douglas from the Mountain Goats on sax. People, what are you waiting for? theparanoidstyle.bandcamp.com/track/tearin...
August 29, 2025 at 12:45 AM
"They told me I'd never make it—I told them where to stick it." Guys and guys and guys. New Paranoid Style single"Tearing The Ticket" available from Bar-None Records now. With Matt Douglas from the Mountain Goats on sax. People, what are you waiting for? theparanoidstyle.bandcamp.com/track/tearin...
I'm so thrilled and delighted to have written the liner notes for Rhino's new reissue of the Replacements all-time classic 'Let It Be'. It's an LP which has aged beautifully and surprisingly, and this new set is wildly elucidating. Pre-orders available now, if you dare! pitchfork.com/news/the-rep...
August 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I'm so thrilled and delighted to have written the liner notes for Rhino's new reissue of the Replacements all-time classic 'Let It Be'. It's an LP which has aged beautifully and surprisingly, and this new set is wildly elucidating. Pre-orders available now, if you dare! pitchfork.com/news/the-rep...
"Exactly what they saw in each other is a mystery, but each had experienced the paradox of being at the fulcrum of constant activity and beset by abiding loneliness." Over at the Washington Post, I wrote about Peter Guralnick's revelatory new Colonel Tom Parker biography. wapo.st/3J3YQmm
August 8, 2025 at 1:12 AM
"Exactly what they saw in each other is a mystery, but each had experienced the paradox of being at the fulcrum of constant activity and beset by abiding loneliness." Over at the Washington Post, I wrote about Peter Guralnick's revelatory new Colonel Tom Parker biography. wapo.st/3J3YQmm
ICYMI! A rare double header! Today I wrote about the Everly Brothers for the Washington Post and about a new era of sanitized music docs and biopics for the N.Y. Times Magazine. Catch up here www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/m... and here wapo.st/4lKOuX2 — if you've got the gumption.
July 28, 2025 at 4:49 AM
ICYMI! A rare double header! Today I wrote about the Everly Brothers for the Washington Post and about a new era of sanitized music docs and biopics for the N.Y. Times Magazine. Catch up here www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/m... and here wapo.st/4lKOuX2 — if you've got the gumption.
“Every catchy number is marked by linguistic specifics, and the title tune is a rock-biz masterpiece. Subject: 11 dead at a Who concert in Cincinnati, 1979. A.” — Robert Christgau on the Paranoid Style’s ‘A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life,’ six years old today. The best of our wilderness years.
July 26, 2025 at 5:58 AM
“Every catchy number is marked by linguistic specifics, and the title tune is a rock-biz masterpiece. Subject: 11 dead at a Who concert in Cincinnati, 1979. A.” — Robert Christgau on the Paranoid Style’s ‘A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life,’ six years old today. The best of our wilderness years.
"Two often overlooked, fractious, world-changing brothers had managed one last feat that had always seemed impossible: They had, for a time, become friends." Over at the WaPo, I wrote about Barry Mazor's great new Everly Brothers biography "Blood Harmony." www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
July 24, 2025 at 3:44 AM
"Two often overlooked, fractious, world-changing brothers had managed one last feat that had always seemed impossible: They had, for a time, become friends." Over at the WaPo, I wrote about Barry Mazor's great new Everly Brothers biography "Blood Harmony." www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
Big news over at Paranoid Style HQ! We’re excited to have joined the elite booking agency Atomic Music Group. Thanks, Bill Hutchinson, for making this happen. Thrilled to be on a roster alongside all time heroes like the Blasters, Kelly Willis and my favorite group of all time. This is gonna work!
July 14, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Big news over at Paranoid Style HQ! We’re excited to have joined the elite booking agency Atomic Music Group. Thanks, Bill Hutchinson, for making this happen. Thrilled to be on a roster alongside all time heroes like the Blasters, Kelly Willis and my favorite group of all time. This is gonna work!
All I had was a raft of songs and a few positive reviews when Bar/None Records first signed me. An unfinished product, but then that was always their way. Like Abba advised, they took a chance on me. Label manager Mark Lipsitz died today. Like so many others I'll badly miss him.
July 6, 2025 at 3:46 AM
All I had was a raft of songs and a few positive reviews when Bar/None Records first signed me. An unfinished product, but then that was always their way. Like Abba advised, they took a chance on me. Label manager Mark Lipsitz died today. Like so many others I'll badly miss him.
ICYMI: Over at the Pitchfork Sunday Review, I wrote all about Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders' brilliant and haunted 3rd LP, 'Learning To Crawl.' Kent State, punk London, two bandmates gone, Billy Bremner, a hometown lost and a sense of humanity regained. pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
June 17, 2025 at 3:20 AM
ICYMI: Over at the Pitchfork Sunday Review, I wrote all about Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders' brilliant and haunted 3rd LP, 'Learning To Crawl.' Kent State, punk London, two bandmates gone, Billy Bremner, a hometown lost and a sense of humanity regained. pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
Soundchecking with Wussy (and Brenda Sauter!!!) at Club 603 in Baltimore! This is going to be a restaurant-quality show.
June 14, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Soundchecking with Wussy (and Brenda Sauter!!!) at Club 603 in Baltimore! This is going to be a restaurant-quality show.
ICYMI! Over at the Ringer I devised a highly scientific Pop Culture Golfer Matrix with some equally trenchant analyses of some of golf’s biggest heroes and villains ever committed the screen. Bagger Vance! Tin Cup! Dorf! Caddyshack! Something for everyone! www.theringer.com/2025/06/04/g...
June 5, 2025 at 3:40 AM
ICYMI! Over at the Ringer I devised a highly scientific Pop Culture Golfer Matrix with some equally trenchant analyses of some of golf’s biggest heroes and villains ever committed the screen. Bagger Vance! Tin Cup! Dorf! Caddyshack! Something for everyone! www.theringer.com/2025/06/04/g...
Tonight's the night. One day every year me and my other frontpagers at the great blog Lawyers, Guns & Money do a fundraiser to keep the lights on. As you will see from my Spiro Agnew heavy post and appeal, I am more than honored to be a part of this crew. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/05/ther...
May 31, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Tonight's the night. One day every year me and my other frontpagers at the great blog Lawyers, Guns & Money do a fundraiser to keep the lights on. As you will see from my Spiro Agnew heavy post and appeal, I am more than honored to be a part of this crew. www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/05/ther...