Multitasker extraordinaire

In fall 1966, at age 19, University of Texas drama major Fran Nelson was splitting her time among classwork, UT drama department productions, and solo gigs at The 11th Door Folk Cellar in downtown Austin. Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr., then station manager of Austin’s KAZZ-FM, produced and hosted regular weekly live remote broadcasts on the station from popular Austin nightclubs and cabarets, including The 11th Door. It was a money-making venture for KAZZ, which charged nightclub owners for the broadcasts, but it was also a subtle way Bill Sr. met nightclub owners, managers, and musicians, connections that would play an important role in Bill’s launch, with son Bill Jr., then a deejay at KAZZ, of Sonobeat Recording Company in 1967. During a November 1966 broadcast from The 11th Door, its manager, folk singer Allen Damron introduced Fran to both the KAZZ radio audience and Bill Sr. Fran, self-accompanied on standard guitar, performed a mix of original ballads and covers of then-current folk-pop songs, impressing Bill Sr. with her presence and poise (likely the result of her live stage experience in UT drama department productions) and musical talent. Months passed with additional broadcasts of Fran’s performances from The 11th Door, and in early 1967, as the Joseys began formulating plans to launch Sonobeat, on the strength of Fran’s 11th Door performances, Bill Sr. invited her to record a test session at the KAZZ studios in downtown Austin.

Fran’s KAZZ test recordings featured Beg Me Blues and Sad Stranger Blues, both likely Fran’s originals, a lovely cover of folk star Carolyn Hester’s Tomorrow When I Wake Up, several takes of Fran’s sultry cover of Stevie Wonder’s Come Back Baby, and a simple version of her own No Regrets, all self-accompanied on standard guitar. But the recordings (taped on off-brand Sheraton AP-12 tape stock) were amateurishly recorded and useful only as raw examples of Fran’s guitar and vocal skills. Nonetheless, her performances on the KAZZ broadcasts from The 11th Door and on the KAZZ recordings influenced Bill Sr.’s decision to record a stereo single with Fran once he and Bill Jr. formally launched Sonobeat in mid-’67. In the meantime, impressed with her talent, Bill Sr. introduced Fran to Don Dean, manager of Austin”s swanky Club Seville, who booked Fran into the Seville’s posh Embassy Room for a series of Thursday evening performances beginning in May 1967. Her first performance, on May 11th, followed magician Gene de Jean’s performance, but Fran’s performance was more magical than Gene’s.

Fran Nelson’s first recordings

Master tape box holding an early Fran Nelson recording

11th Door newspaper ad for a Fren Nelson appearance

The long road to Fran’s single

When Sonobeat finally started work on Fran’s single in July 1967, Bill Sr. turned to the Lee Arellano Trio (better known as Sonobeat’s first jazz act under the name Lee Arlano Trio) to provide the instrumental backing, but those backing tracks ended up scrapped, and Fran’s single was back-burnered for more than a year. The final 1968 release version of Fran’s single was backed by Sonobeat favorite The Michael Stevens IV, a versatile pop-jazz combo that regularly performed as house band at The Club Seville in the Crest Motor Inn (now The LINE Austin). The Michael Stevens IV regularly backed traveling acts booked into The Club Seville, whereas the Arellano (or Arlano) Trio was a jazz instrumental combo with less experience backing vocalists, which is why its 1967 backing tracks were abandoned. The Michael Stevens IV also provided the instrumental backings for Sonobeat’s Don Dean and Bach-Yen singles.

It was a relatively mild Austin, Texas, October in 1968, when Fran – who seemed to specialize in torch songs – steamed up the recording session for Sonobeat’s 15th stereo 45 RPM single, the last of Sonobeat’s releases for the year. Hers was also the last of Sonobeat’s recording sessions at The Club Seville, as manager Don Dean had already departed and the new club management let Sonobeat record using the Embassy Room as a final courtesy. The “A” side was a toasty bossa nova cover of the Beatles’ 1965 hit Yesterday. The “B” side was Fran’s original song, No Regrets, delivered in a smoky jazz club style enhanced by Sonobeat’s stereo steel plate reverb. You can almost feel Fran’s hot breath in your ear and might even need a gin and tonic to make it all the way through her torrid performance.

The finished master tape for Fran’s single

Fran’s Sonobeat stereo single

11th Door newspaper ad for a Fren Nelson appearance

Sonobeat recorded The Michael Stevens IV’s basic instrumental backing tracks for Yesterday and No Regrets during off-hours at The Club Seville. Fran overdubbed her vocals at Sonobeat’s home-based Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. The Sonobeat archives hold no additional information about Fran, but our research using the Austin American-Statesman and University of Texas Daily Texan newspaper archives uncovered that she was a protege of notable Texas folk singer Carol Hedin, who also appeared regularly at The 11th Door, and admirer of Greenwich Village folk star Carolyn Hester. Fran is even credited with writing songs for Carol Hester. Fran appears to be unrelated to either outlaw country icon Willie Nelson or prolific Sonosong composer Herman Nelson.

June 1967 Austin American newspaper photo of Fran