Frustrated since His mother bought him a fake guitar at 5 years old, Nelson finally started guitar lessons with a Jewish folk guitar teacher through the summer of 1965.  His mother soon after heard about a Flamenco guitar teacher from the Village (lower Manhattan) giving lessons at a nearby public school.

At age nine, Nelson became infused with Flamenco. It did not take long that Nelson  became immersed in the culture and “Compas” rhythm of this music. Roberto Reyes his teacher was a renowned New York City Flamenco guitarist that had performed numerous times in Carnegie Hall having played with famous guitarists as Paco Peņa, Sebicas, Habichuela and Paco de Lucia. To this date Nelson still remains in contact with Roberto attending His occasional “Juergas” at his Spanish Castle style home in Queens. At age 15, Nelson was given a opportunity by scholarship to attend an Ivey-League Boarding High School in Vermont to further his education and music skills. There he continued with intense one on one lessons with one of the most unorthodox Spain trained Flamenco guitarist known as “Juan De La Sierra. For years, Nelson continued not only in learning from Juan but became a second guitarist in Juan’s gigs, workshops and performances. During part of Nelson’s undergraduate studies he met Julie Katzenstein, a foreign exchanged flamenco dancer student to Spain where they traveled to colleges doing small performances and cultured demonstrations.

For the following 20 years, he continued playing flamenco as a hobby until the spring of 1998 in Florida where he befriended an award winning classical guitarist named Kevin Morse. There, Kevin reintroduced Nelson with intensive training again to the passion Nelson had stored up to decide to take the Flamenco guitar back as a lifestyle and profession.

In September of 2006, he co-founded "Flamenco Soltado" with dancer Susana Butler.
During this time "Flamenco Soltado" has performed in NC, SC, and GA at numerous festivals,
educational demonstrations, and private events. Susana continues to maintain the Soltado group activity with local venues and classes in the Charlston SC area. More info on Susana is available at www.FlamencoSoltado.com

In December of 2007, Nelson and His Wife Mayte continued their passion  for Flamenco to develop  “Flamenco In The Woods" to organize events, concerts, and workshops in the Carolina Mountains to share the Music and Culture of Spain.