[10] Nelson's first appearance performing her original music was as the winner of the premiere episode of The Next Big Star with host, Ed MacMahon in 2001.

Her first three, A Little Bit of Everything,[11] Saving Grace,[12] and Wild Women Don't Get the Blues[13] were recorded in Ashland, Oregon with producer Tom Freeman.

[14] Her next two albums, A Christmas Wish and I'm Not Broken, were produced and recorded at Monster Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with Brian Irwin.

[18] The collection features handmade sterling silver, gold, copper and bronze necklaces and guitar picks.

[20] In her free time, Nelson writes songs with incarcerated men and women in the Davidson Country Jail (Redemption Songs) and mentally ill patients in a residential mental health treatment facility in Franklin, TN.