Rolling Stone magazine named Nels Cline the 82nd greatest guitarist of all time and nominated him as one of their top 20 New Guitar Gods. Born in Los Angeles on January 4, 1956, Nels Courtney Cline began to play guitar at age 12 with his brother Alex Cline on drums. Both developed togeteher musically, playing in a rock band called Homogenized Too. Gratuated from University High School, Cline recorded his first album Elegies with Eric Von Essen, in 1981. Cline's guitar work has been classified as jazz, rock, country and even folk. The equipment he uses to obtain his incredibly wide range of sounds is a topic frequently discussed in guitar and music magazines and Cline is enthusiastic about his vintage equipment, especially his beloved Fender Jazzmaster. A veteran of numerous collaborations and experimental projects, Cline has now performed on over 150 albums. Since 2004 he has played with Grammy Award-winning rock band Wilco featuring strongly on the group's albums Sky Blue Sky, Wilco (The Album), The Whole Love and Star Wars and also performs live with the band. His association with Wilco has exposed Cline's talents to a much wider audience than he previously enjoyed and has considerably increased his stature amongst guitar enthusiasts. Apart playing with his brother Alex Cline, a percussionist , the guitarist has worked with musicians in punk and alternative rock such as Carla Bozulich with The Geraldine Fibbers in the 1990s, Mike Watt, Thurston Moore or the Italian experimental duo My Cat Is an Alien. He also lead bands like Nels Cline Trio, Nels Cline 4 and the Nels Cline Singers, before recording Consentrik Quartet in 2025.
