Bruce and Elaine Nelson kick off free concerts

Free concerts in the park are returning to Staples for another season. The concerts will be held on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Norther n Pacific Park across from the Government Center at 611 Iowa Avenue NE.

The first concert will be on July 12 and will feature Bruce and Elaine Nelson. The concerts will run through August 16.

Bruce and Elaine Nelson were named to America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009 as a duo, but they have also achieved notoriety in their solo careers. Elaine was named the 2007-2008 Best Country Singer by the National Traditional Country Music Association and Bruce was named the 2008- 2009 Best Country Singer by the National Traditional Country Music Association.

This Minnesota guy and Texas gal met in 2004 and divide their time between Erhard, Minn., and McAllen, Tex. They own and operate a small music store in Erhard but confess to spending more time singing than selling and often just put a sign on the door that reads, "Gone Singing."

Elaine doesn't remember when she didn't sing. As a youngster, Elaine has many fond memories of singing for then president Lyndon Baines Johnson at his ranch in Johnson City, Tex. As a teenager, she was awarded a scholarship in Theatre to the University of Texas.

As motherhood approached she put her music career on hold to rear her

family on a cotton farm in

central Texas. Elaine says, "getting back to music was

always in the back of my mind. A kind of 'One day I'll get back to it' thought!"

By 2004, when she and Bruce met, her children were grown. Eager to get back to entertaining, she jumped into the music scene with both feet. By

2005, Bruce and Elaine

were married. (Both agree "it's a match made in heaven.")

Bruce played in various Minnesota bands since adolescence. Upper Midwest residents will recognize Bruce as being the bandleader of the Country Rangers, a family band playing the upper Midwest from 1970 until his youngest son left for college in 1992. In 1996, he went on the road touring with a number of groups opening for such entertainers as Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, George Jones, Charlie Pride and many other country stars.

Begin- ning in 2000,

Bruce was

music director and one of the principal performers at the Hee-Haw style Sky View Theatre show in Frazee, where he says, "I made a lot of great memories and a lot of great friends."

Bruce played pedal steel for the Connie Lee Stich show for many years and can still be seen playing steel guitar on RFD TV's Midwest Country show backing Connie Lee and Margo Smith.

Bruce and Elaine currently have four classic country CDs available, Near You, On The Road Again, Anytime and Foolin' Round. They released their first old time gospel CD, entitled Christ is Coming Soon in September, 2008.

The Music in the Park series is funded by the Staples Host Lions Club. The Series is organized by the Staples Motley Area Arts Council, with the assistance of the Staples Motley Public Schools and the City of Staples