Sonobeat | Herman Nelson

Sonobeat Artists

HERMAN NELSON

Prolific songwriter.
Sonosong’s first “house” composer.

Spirit Free

Home base: Austin, Texas

Genres: Country | Folk | Pop

Recorded with Sonobeat: 1968 through 1973

Sonobeat releases: Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music: Herman Nelson, Composer non-commercial song demo album (1969), Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2 non-commercial song demo album (1970), and Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 3 non-commercial song demo audiocassette (1973)

Making the connections

In 1968, mild mannered Austinite Herman Nelson became the first composer to exclusively provide songs for Sonobeat’s publishing affiliate, Sonosong Music Company. Although Herman and Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. first met in the early ’60s, Herman’s association with Sonobeat began in mid-’68 with Jim Chesnut’s recordings of Herman’s songs About to Be Woman and Leaves for a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single. Herman’s diverse song catalog eventually yielded three demo albums for Sonosong, the first two issued on vinyl and the third on audiocassette. The first Herman Nelson song demo album was performed by Jim (guitar and vocals), Arma Harper (guitar), Karol Phelan (vocals), and Herman himself (guitar and vocals) and was issued in November 1969. The second was performed by Bill Wilson (guitar and vocals) and Mike Waugh (bass) and was issued in November 1970. The third was recorded in late 1970 and performed by Nelson and Waugh, but wasn’t issued until 1973, likely because Bill Sr. had just issued Herman’s second demo album in November 1970. The demo albums were used to solicit covers of Herman’s songs by established recording artists and were circulated to major record company A&RArtist & Repertoire (A&R) executives at record labels recruit and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording and promotional activities. talent execs. The first two demo albums were issued in monaural versions only to focus attention on the songs and not the recording techniques. There is nothing in the Sonobeat archives to indicate whether any national labels ever picked up any of Herman’s songs.

Herman’s story continues below ↓

Sonobeat Artists

Herman Nelson

Inspired, whimsical, and often profound tunes

Herman wrote the lyrics for the Lee Arlano Trio’s 1969 Sonobeat single, School Daze, and when we were unable to find a copy of the single in the Sonobeat archives, in 2008 Herman generously provided one from his personal collection. When Sonobeat assembled a band around charismatic drummer Vince Mariani in 1970, Bill Sr. called in Herman to write melody and lyrics for the group’s debut single, Re-birth Day. In 1971, when Bill Sr. began working with the Bill Miller Group, he again called on Herman to contribute musical themes and lyrics for several of the unit’s songs, but the only song in which some of Herman’s contributions ended up used – a melody line and lyric here and there – was the Egyptian mythology-inspired Ra-Ma. During his active years as a Sonosong composer, Herman was a traveling salesman covering Central to South Texas for Atlanta Stove Works. Even in the ’60s, Herman’s “ordinary guy” look and demeanor concealed his true passion for metaphysics and the occult, which he cleverly celebrated in many of his unusual and thought-provoking song lyrics, making him the perfect collaborator with Mariani and Bill Miller.

When Herman M. Nelson, a traveling salesman from Austin, received a parking ticket while visiting Beaumont [Texas] recently, he sat down and wrote a letter to the police. Nelson told Police Chief Willie Bauer ... that the Gulf port town’s parking meters not only were ‘different’ but that his particular meter had a green tree frog sitting on the coin slot. ‘He would budge no more than a property owner who had decided not to be evicted. Since I had no desire to maim, mangle, or murder this independent individual – or to get warts – I let him remain’. The Beaumont police chief replied, ‘Such a refreshing letter from a visitor to our town is worth a dollar of anybody’s money, so I paid your fine out of my pocket. Please come back and bring your humor with you.’”

An anecdote reported in the May 6, 1966, edition of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper that captured the essence of Herman’s personality

Herman, born in Peoria, Illinois, on March 31, 1929, moved to Austin in 1950. A lifetime member of the Austin Poetry Society and a co-founder of the Austin International Poetry Festival, he was an award-winning poet, playwright, and painter. As if that were not enough talent, Herman created Elksinger’s Perfected Tarot system and card deck, which tied in to his keen interest in the metaphysical that shaped many of his song lyrics. We lost Herman on November 12, 2018, at age 90. A January 5, 2019, memorial service at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin celebrated Herman’s life well lived.

Herman Nelson’s posse

Jim Chesnut (guitar and vocals on first demo album)

Arma Harper (guitar on first demo album)

Herman Nelson (composer and vocals on all demo albums; guitar on second and third demo albums)

Karol Phelan (vocals on first demo album)

Mike Waugh (bass on second demo album)

Bill Wilson (guitar and vocals on second demo album)

Herman Nelson

Karol Phelan, vocals on Herman’s first song demo album

Jim Chesnut, guitar and vocals on Herman’s first song demo album

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company:
Herman Nelson, Composer
Recording and release details

33-1/3 RPM monaural song demo album

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer

Catalog number: HEC-285M/HEC-286M

Plain white jacket rubber stamped “SONGS FROM THE CATALOG OF SONOSONG MUSIC COMPANY” and “Herman Nelson, Composer”

Issued in mid-November 1969

All songs composed by Herman Nelson

Side I:

The Wild

Ego Evolution

Spinning-Wheel Sun

Blast Furnace

Ten Thirty Train

Happy Marriage

Household Princess

Bag and Baggage

The Critter Love

Derelict Down

Side II:

About to Be Woman

Orange Pekoe In Mood

Into Yesterday

Beyond the Hill

Leaves

In the Land of Now Is Never

Jenny

Lemon Drops and Rings

The Unwinding Road

Produced by Bill Josey Sr.

Engineered by Rim Kelley

Recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on various dates in 1968 and 1969

Recorded using...

ElectroVoice 665 dynamic, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic, and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones

Ampex 354 quarter-inch 2-track tape deck

Custom 10-input portable stereo mixer

Custom steel plate stereo reverb

3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock

Approximately 100 copies manufactured

Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona

Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas

Printed insert briefly describing each song

In the dead wax...

Side I: 11687 HEC-285M

Side II: 11687 HEC-286M

The tulip shape stamped next to the matrix number is the Sidney J. Wakefield logo. “HEC” are the initials of the Wakefield mastering engineer.

Herman Nelson’s first demo album cover

Track listing details for Herman’s first song demo album

Continuation of track listing details

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company:
Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2
Recording and release details

33-1/3 RPM monaural song demo album

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2

Catalog number: WEJ-287M/WEJ-288M

Plain white jacket rubber stamped “SONGS FROM THE CATALOG OF SONOSONG MUSIC COMPANY” and “Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2”

Issued in November 1970

All songs composed by Herman Nelson

Side I:

Where Have All the People Gone?

The Web

Sons, Thy Mother Is Not Well!

Billy the Kid

Changing Wallpaper

One Little Thought

Side II:

Yesterday’s Summer

Sandy

Christina

Roberta

A Hymn

Pictures

Produced and engineered by Bill Josey Sr.

Recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on various dates in autumn 1970

Recorded using...

ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones

Scully 280 half-inch 2-track and Ampex AG-350 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks

Custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console

Fairchild Lumiten 663ST stereo optical compressor

Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band graphic equalizer

Custom steel plate stereo reverb

Ampex 681 tape stock

Approximately 100 copies manufactured

Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona

Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas

Printed insert briefly describing each song

In the dead wax...

Side I: WEJ-287M 12960 HEC

Side II: WEJ-288M 12960 HEC

“WEJ” at the beginning of the catalog number are Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.’s initials. The tulip shape stamped next to the matrix number is the Sidney J. Wakefield logo. “HEC” are the initials of the Wakefield mastering engineer.

One of only two Herman Nelson songs in the Sonobeat archives not included on any of his song demo albums
The other was Anna from San Angelo.

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company:
Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 3
Recording and release details

Stereo audiocassette song demo album

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 3

Issued in fall 1973 only on audiocassette

Stereo

All songs composed by Herman Nelson

Side I:

Haiku to a Butterfly

The Drifter

Black Hawk

Big Top Serenade

Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton

Side II:

The Legend

Spirit Free

Three Score and...

Diana Huntress

Robinhood’s 90 Caterpillars

Late at Night

Moon Phases

Produced and engineered by Bill Josey Sr.

Recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on November 16 and December 15 and 18, 1970

Recorded using...

ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones

Scully 280 half-inch 2-track and Ampex AG-350 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks

Custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console

Fairchild Lumiten 663ST stereo optical compressor

Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band graphic equalizer

Custom steel plate stereo reverb

Ampex 681 tape stock

Master tape of side 1 of Herman Nelson’s third demo album

Master tape of side 2 of Herman Nelson’s third demo album

Listen!

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Herman Nelson

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Coffee klatch

When Sonobeat Historical Archives connected with Herman in 2008, he recalled that after Bill Josey Sr. moved the Sonobeat studios from northwest Austin to the KVET Building on North Lamar near downtown Austin in 1973, he and Bill met frequently at the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts and Toddle House for coffee and talked about a wide range of subjects.