Nimrod Workman (November 5, 1895 – November 26, 1994) was an American folk singer, coal miner and trade unionist. His musical repertoire included traditional English and Scottish ballads passed down through his family, Appalachian folk songs and original compositions.

Background

Nimrod Workman was born in Inez, Martin County, Kentucky and was named after his grandfather Nimrod Workman (1842–1914), who taught his namesake "the old ballads from Britain about lords and ladies and the ancient Scottish wars". At the age of 14, he went to work in the Howard Collieries coal mines in Mingo County, West Virginia, and he continued working as a coal miner for forty-two years until he was forced to retire due to black lung and a slipped disc. His wife, Mollie Bowens (1912–1998), was of Italian descent on her mother's side. The couple had thirteen children.

Activism

Throughout his coal mining career, Workman was active in union politics and United Mine Workers of America organizing. In 1920–1921 he worked alongside the union activist Mary Harris "Mother" Jones in West Virginia, and participated in the Battle of Blair Mountain uprising. In later years, he advocated on behalf of black lung victims, and was able to receive union compensation for his own health problems in 1971.

Traditional music and later life

The songs Workman had inherited from his grandfather included versions of many Child Ballads, such as "Young Beichan", "Young Hunting", "Edward", "Little Musgrave", "Sir Lionel", "The Wife of Usher's Well", "The Farmer's Curst Wife", "Barbara Allen", "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" and "The House Carpenter". Following his retirement as a miner he became known as a folk singer, with frequent performances around Appalachia as well as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the 1982 World's Fair. He recorded two albums: Passing Thru the Garden, with his daughter Phyllis Boyens, which was released by June Appal Recordings in 1975; and Mother Jones' Will on the Rounder Records label in 1978. In addition, he contributed songs to several albums of traditional and coal mining music. Workman was filmed by the famous archivist and ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. He was also the subject of the documentary Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category, produced by Appalshop Films, and appeared as himself in the documentaries Harlan County, USA, Chase the Devil: Religious Music of the Appalachians, and The Grand Generation. He is heard leading the singing of "Amazing Grace" in the funeral scene in Coal Miner's Daughter, which also featured Phyllis Boyens as Loretta Lynn's mother. Workman was a recipient of a 1986 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. He spent most of his life in Chattaroy, West Virginia, though in later years he lived in Mascot, Tennessee. He died in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1994 at the age of 99.

Discography

Albums

Compilation Tracks

Films