Nimrod Workman & Phyllis Boyens

Stream and download from Bandcamp

Mention anything about the history of the Southern mountains in this century; Nimrod Workman was in the middle of it. A coal miner for almost half a century, he started union organizing in the 1920s and remembers Mother Jones visiting the coal camps. On “Passing Thru The Garden,” Nimrod sings the ancient ballads and hymns of his upbringing alongside Phyllis Boyens, the next-to-youngest of the eleven children Nimrod raised and the actress who played Loretta Lynn’s mother in the feature film Coal Miner’s Daughter. They also performed together in the Academy Award-winning film Harlan County USA.