Nimrod Workman Feature Episode
This week, Eli & guest host Nathan Salsburg do a special episode on the music and politics of Nimrod Workman- Kentucky coal miner, union organizer, song writer and ballad singer. They play a bunch of his songs and and spoken segments, and then in the last quarter of the show play tracks from some associated musicians. They also discuss the current situation in Kentucky coal mining, including the horrendous practice of mountain top removal mining. Nathan Salsburg hosts the internet radio show “Roothog or Die” on East Village Radio. He is the production manager at the Alan Lomax Archive.
Nimrod Workman Feature Episode
Nimrod Workman was an extraordinary character. He was born in Kentucky and started working in the mines as a young teenager, he was a socialist, a powerful and effective and funny public speaker, and a union organizer. He knew Mother Jones and was involved in the West Virginia Mine War of 1920-21, the largest labor uprising in American history. He was an excellent singer of ballads and also wrote his own songs. Late in life he began a career as a ballad singer, playing at folk festivals and other venues. In 1986 he recieved a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He had black lung from working in the mines, smoked unfiltered cigarettes and lived to be 99 years old.
Nimrod Workman was in several films:
A documentary about him called “Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category,” produced by Appalshop Films. He appeared as himself in the documentaries “Harlan County, USA,” “Chase the Devil: Religious Music of the Appalachians,” and “The Grand Generation.” He also appeared in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which also featured Phyllis Boyens (his daughter).
“The Grand Generation” is available to watch any time, free of charge on the website FolkStreams.net. There’s a lot of good stuff on there, well worth checking out.
For more information on the West Virginia Mine War, read Robert Shogan’s excellent book “The Battle of Blair Mountain”
October 6th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Thank you for sharing!
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
I actually met and Kew Nimrod Workman during my teens. He inspired me. E mail me-Jerry
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 am
p.s.
I also am an Urban Appalachian now in Cincinnati who does radio and I Play a little Nimrod now and then-to good response…Jerry
September 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Thanks for this episode. Nimrod was my great-grandfather, and it’s interesting to see his music move forward on the Internet. He was a wonderful man to hear tell stories as a small child, and my grandmother, his daughter, still tells some of his stories.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Hi. Thanks for writing in! All my best to your family.
- Eli
September 25th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
i just discovered the music of Mr.Workman while researching Roscoe Holcomb….Wow Im in hog heaven! Music that gets in the marrow of your bones……keep searching for the good stuff!
February 7th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Working on a poetry collection about Appalachia & this was a valuable resource of an inimitable performer.
August 2nd, 2009 at 5:27 am
Nimrod was also my great-grandfather…..he died when i was a freshman in highschool. I can remember him vividly…and i loved when he came to visit or we went to TN…..i miss him and mommaw Molly…they were such a wonderful pair!
August 13th, 2009 at 12:16 am
One day in the early 1980s, I was sitting in my office at Jubilee Community Arts in Knoxville, when in walked a somewhat-shabbily dressed little man who informed me: “I’m Nimrod Workman and I sang Amazing Grace in Coal Miner’s Daughter!”
He wanted to see Fr. Bill Daniels, JCA executive director, about a booking at the Laurel Theatre.
I must have had a skeptical look on my face, because he immediately rared back and started singing, just as he had in the movie.
What a voice, what a memorable character. I’m glad I had the privilege of meeting him, if only for a few moments.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:28 am
nimrod workman was my grandfather ,father of harvey j workman and husband of my grandother molly , i enjoyed growing up with the exposure of his stories and music . i grew a passion for poetry you can check out my poetry at voicesnet.com ( adam workman) The workman pride lives on!
December 18th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I roomed with Nimrod the last week of Smithsonian’s Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife in 1976. What a memorable time. He was quite a man.