Artists
Spirit Free
Austin, Texas
Records with Sonobeat from 1968 to 1973
Three non-commercial song demo albums on Sonobeat Records (1969, 1970 & 1973)
- Pop Folk Country
Herman Nelson • Spirit Free (1973)
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Herman Nelson's Sonobeat song demo albums are issued with plain white jackets, so this is our fantasy jacket artwork
Herman Nelson at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in 1968; photo taken from the studio deck overlooking northwest Austin
A clever song – a play on the title of Johnny Cash's hit A Boy Named Sue – Herman writes and records in 1970 but that's never included on any of his Sonobeat song demo albums; producer Bill Josey Sr. orders five reference acetate copies cut, but it's unclear what he does with them
The simple rubber-stamped "white jacket" album cover for Herman's first song demo album
In 1968, mild mannered Austinite Herman Nelson is 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 meet in the early '60s, Herman's association with Sonobeat begins in mid-'68 with Jim Chesnut's recordings of About to Be Woman and Leaves for a Sonobeat stereo 45 RPM single; both songs are selected from an impressively large body of material Herman has composed over several years. Herman's diverse song catalog eventually yields three demo albums for Sonosong, the first two issued on vinyl. The first Nelson song demo album is performed by Chesnut (guitar and vocals), Arma Harper (guitar), Karol Phelan (vocals), and Nelson (guitar and vocals) and is issued in November 1969. The second is performed by Bill Wilson (guitar and vocals) and Mike Waugh (bass) and is issued in November 1970. The demo albums are used to solicit national artists' interest in recording Herman's songs and are circulated to major record company A&RArtist & Repertoire exeutives at record labels build and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording activities. departments. Both demo albums are monaural, and neither is commercially released. In 1973, Bill Sr. records the third Herman Nelson song demo album, performed by Nelson and Waugh, after moving the Sonobeat studios to Liberty Hill, Texas, but this time Bill distributes the demo to record company A&RArtist & Repertoire exeutives at record labels build and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording activities. execs on inexpensive stereo audio cassettes.
An anecdote reported in the May 6, 1966, edition of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper that captures the essence of Herman's personality
Herman writes the lyrics for Lee Arlano Trio's 1969 Sonobeat single, School Daze, and when we're unable to find a copy of the single in the Sonobeat archives, in 2008 Herman generously provides one from his personal collection. When Sonobeat assembles a band around charismatic drummer Vince Mariani in 1970, Bill Sr. calls in Herman to write melody and lyrics for the group's debut single, Re-birth Day. In 1971, when Bill Sr. begins working with the Bill Miller Group, he again calls on Herman to contribute lyrics to several of the unit's songs, but the only song in which some of Herman's lyrics end up used – a line here and there – is the Egyptian mythology-inspired Ra-Ma. During his active years as a Sonosong composer, Herman is a traveling salesman covering Central to South Texas for Atlanta Stove Works. Even in the '60s, Herman's "ordinary guy" look and demeanor belies his true passion for metaphysics and the occult, which he cleverly celebrates in many of his unusual and thought-provoking song lyrics, making him the perfect collaborator with Mariani and Bill Miller.
Herman recalls that after Bill Sr. moves the Sonobeat studios to the KVET Building on North Lamar in Austin, he and Bill meet frequently at the nearby Dunkin' Donuts and Toddle House for coffee and talk about a wide range of subjects.
Herman, born in Peoria, Illinois, on March 31, 1929, becomes an Austin resident in 1950. A lifetime member of the Austin Poetry Society and a co-founder of the Austin International Poetry Festival, he's an award-winning poet, playwright, and painter. As if that's not enough talent, Herman creates Elksinger's Perfected Tarot system and card deck, which ties in to his keen interest in the metaphysical that shapes many of his song lyrics. We lose Herman on November 12, 2018, at age 90. A January 5, 2019, memorial service at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin celebrates Herman's life well lived.
Herman Nelson: composer, guitar, and vocals
Arma Harper: guitar
Karol Phelan: vocals
Mike Waugh: bass
Bill Wilson: guitar and vocals
Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer
Side 1:
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 2:
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
Engineered by Rim Kelley
Recorded at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on various dates in 1968 and 1969
Recording equipment: ElectroVoice 665 microphones, ElectroVoice Slimair 636 microphones, Sony ECM22 electret condenser microphones, Ampex 354 quarter-inch 2-track tape deck, custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer, custom steel plate stereo reverb, 3M (Scotch) 202 tape stock
Approximately 100 copies pressed
Issued in November 1969* • monaural only
Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Plain white jacket rubber stamped "SONGS FROM THE CATALOG OF SONOSONG MUSIC COMPANY" and "Herman Nelson, Composer"
Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
In the dead wax:
Side 1: 
11687 and HEC-285M
Side 2: 11687 and HEC-286M
"HEC" in the dead wax are the initials of the mastering engineer at Sidney J. Wakefield & Company
What's that flower-shape in the dead wax? It's the Sidney J. Wakefield logo, stamped into the lacquer masters next to the matrix number
Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2
Side 1:
Where Have All the People Gone?
the Web
Sons, Thy Mother Is Not Well!
Billy the Kid
Changing Wallpaper
One Little Thought
Side 2:
Yesterday's Summer
Sandy
Christina
Roberta
A Hymn
Pictures
Engineered by Rim Kelley
Recorded at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on various dates in 1970
Recording equipment: ElectroVoice Slimair 636 microphones, Sony ECM22 electret condenser microphones, Ampex AG350 tape deck, custom 10-channel portable stereo mixer, Fairchild Lumiten 663ST optical compressor, Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band stereo graphic equalizer, custom steel plate stereo reverb, Ampex 681 tape stock
Approximately 100 copies pressed
Issued in November 1970* • monaural only
Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Plain white jacket rubber stamped "SONGS FROM THE CATALOG OF SONOSONG MUSIC COMPANY" and "Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2"
Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas
In the dead wax:
Side 1: 12960, WEJ-287M, and HEC
Side 2: 12960, WEJ-288M, and HEC
"HEC" in the dead wax are the initials of the mastering engineer at Sidney J. Wakefield & Company
What's that flower-shape in the dead wax? It's the Sidney J. Wakefield logo, stamped into the lacquer masters next to the matrix number.
Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 3
Side 1:
Haiku to a Butterfly
The Drifter
Black Hawk
Big Top Serenade
Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton
Side 2:
The Legend
Spirit Free
Three Score and...
Diana Huntress
Robinhood's 90 Caterpillars
Late at Night
Moon Phases
Recorded at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas, during fall 1973
Issued in fall 1973 on audiocassette only • stereo
Recording equipment: Sony ECM22 electret condenser microphones, Dokorder 7140 quarter-inch 4-track tape deck, custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console, Fairchild Lumiten 663ST optical compressor, Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band stereo graphic equalizer, custom steel plate stereo reverb, Ampex 681 tape stock
Critter of Love (circa 1972)
A Girl Named Sioux (circa 1972)
For the first two of Herman's song demo albums, Sonobeat includes track lists with brief descriptions to help national record company A&RArtist & Repertoire exeutives at record labels build and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording activities. execs identify songs that may be of interest to their artists; the track lists are attached to the back of the album jackets
Karol Phelan, who sings on Herman's first Sonosong demo album, on the sundeck (on a not-so-sunny day) at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin (1968)
