Topic: Red Nelson

[doctorpep]

Does anybody have any information on him?

[Bunker Hill]

Sadly nothing more than what Bob Hall summarized in the Routledge Encyclopedia:

b. 31 August 1907; Sumner, (Tallahatchie, Co) MS
Nelson Wilborn, better known as Red Nelson, or Dirty Red, was born in Sumner, Mississippi, in
1907. A fine, capable vocalist, he moved to Chicago in the early 1930s and was a prominent recording
artist from 1935 to 1947. His recordings with pianist Clarence Lofton, especially ??Streamline Train?? and
??Crying Mother Blues,?? are probably his best work. In the 1960s he performed locally with the Muddy
Waters Band

Sheldon Harriss's 1979 Blues Who's Who (page 560) states that he "frequently worked outside of music (as a waiter), Trocadero Lounge Club, Chicago into the 60s".  The Muddy info also comes from Hariss. Eric Leblanc's Blues Dates, like everything else, doesn't list a date of death.

[jostber]

He also recorded some tracks with Lonnie Johnson in 1947: "Home Last Night" and "You Done Me Wrong", as well as "Mother Fuyer":

http://tinyurl.com/4c28sdd

[Bunker Hill]

Hmm, here's the entry from The Blues Discography, the information would have originally come from the Aladdin session files copies of which were in the possession of the late Mike Leadbitter back in the 70s. I'm thinking that somebody mis-typed Johnson for Graham:

DIRTY RED 

Nelson Wilborn, v with James Clark (p) Lonnie Graham (g).   
Chicago, 2 June 1947

4014-2   Let?s have a nice time   Ald 3232?
4015-1   End of 1946   Ald 3232?
4016-1   Hotel boogie   Ald 207
4017-2   Mother fuyer   Ald 194
4018-1   You done me wrong   Ald 207
4019-2   Home last night   Ald 194

[doctorpep]

Thanks for all the info., gentlemen. He was a really inventive lyricist. If you get a chance, check out his "Working Man Blues". The disc, "1935-1947", is on sale at Triangle-music.com, with which I have no affiliation.

[killerblues]

still looking for Dirty Red aka Nelson Wilborn

[Bunker Hill]

Bob Eagle & Eric S LeBlanc - Blues A Regional Experience - Copyright 2013 give the following on page 122

Red Nelson (Nelson Wilborn) (v) (Sumner, Tallahatchie County, August 31, 1907?Chicago, Illinois, March 1970). Son of Nelson and Sallie Wilborn.