https://folkopedia.info/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Wash_Nelson 2026-05-09T14:18:58Z Revision history for this page on the wiki MediaWiki 1.45.3 https://folkopedia.info/index.php?title=Wash_Nelson&diff=2811&oldid=prev 2007-04-02T12:10:08Z

<p>New page: &#039;&#039;&#039;Wash Nelson:&#039;&#039;&#039; Annadeene Fraley met fellow musician Orin Nelson in Ashland while working at Jean Thomas&#039; festival.  His father Wash was a fine traditional singer with a repertory ...</p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>&#039;&#039;&#039;Wash Nelson:&#039;&#039;&#039; Annadeene Fraley met fellow musician Orin Nelson in Ashland while working at Jean Thomas&#039; festival.&amp;nbsp; His father Wash was a fine traditional singer with a repertory very much in the mold of John Cox&#039; best informants in his well-known Folk-songs of the South.&amp;nbsp; Although I never met Orin, one evening his wife Mary took Annadeene and me up to meet Wash for a splendid evening of old songs.&amp;nbsp; He lived up a hollow somewhere outside of Ashland proper.&amp;nbsp; It was a hot evening and we recorded outside.&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, a popular moonshiner lived up the road a bit and the diligent listener can hear the crunching of gravel as cars drove back and forth on their nocturnal missions.<br /> <br /> Wash was about ninety-three when we recorded him and had just survived a dreadful house fire.&amp;nbsp; Nonetheless, he talked and sang virtually nonstop for a period of several hours.&amp;nbsp; He was a vivid storyteller and told many tales of a rugged pioneer life.&amp;nbsp; These were a bit disconcerting, because sometimes he would describe himself as a devout Christian penitent and sometimes as a thuggish near-outlaw.&amp;nbsp; Which presentation was accurate?&amp;nbsp; Well, probably a mix of the two.&amp;nbsp; At one point in his life, he had sung in medicine shows.&amp;nbsp; He told us that you could sing anything one wanted at those, including old ballads like The House Carpenter, but he indicated that Groundhog represented a particularly effective comic favorite.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;Part of the booklet notes, written by Mark Wilson, to the Musical Traditions Records 4-CD set Meeting&#039;s a Pleasure (MTCD341-4)&#039;&#039;</div>

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