With a mellow, noodle-dance-friendly vibe and stellar instrumental chops, the Austin sextet Nelo would fit nicely into the jam-band pigeonhole if only they weren’t so handy at writing such insistently catchy pop songs. Blame band founder and acoustic guitarist Matt Ragland, who began honing his songwriting chops in his teens and waited years for all the right pieces of his dream band to fall into place. He didn’t have to look far. Ragland, electric guitarist Stephen Goodson and drummer Chris Hill all played together in high school while growing up in Dallas, and Ragland attended summer camp with singer Reid Umstattd from third grade all the way through college. They all came together as Nelo (with new friends Mike St. Clair on bass and David Long on sax) in 2002, and three years later left Texas for Athens, Ga., where they quickly built up an enthusiastic following. They moved back to Texas in 2007 at the urging of producer, studio owner and Willie Nelson’s nephew Freddy Fletcher, who produced Nelo’s self-titled 2008 debut.