Content area
Full text
Mother Jones' Will
Nimrod Workman. CD + 24pp. booklet.
Musical Traditions MTCD512, 2011. <www.mustrad.co.uk/>
This is the fourth CD to appear in Musical Traditions' North American Traditions (NAT) series, reissuing albums previously available on Rounder Records. Its subject, Nimrod Workman (1895-1994), is a singer of such stature that it really should be unthinkable that these recordings might be unavailable - praise is due once again to Rod Stradling of Musical Traditions for making important recordings available to the world at large. The CD features recordings made over several days in March 1976, by Mark Wilson and Ken Irwin, at the singer's home in Chattaroy, West Virginia. Tracks 1-18 made up the earlier LP release (Rounder 0076); these are supplemented with eight additional tracks, two of which feature Nimrod singing with his wife, Molly.
The CD starts with a fine performance of a classic ballad, 'Lord Baseman' (Child 53). It is a perfect example of the unaccompanied Southern Appalachian singing style, and the listener's attention never flags over the course of the song's eight and a half minutes' duration. Other big ballads, all sung in good full versions, include 'Lord...