[78-L] Donald Lee Nelson

[Cary Ginell]

Just wanted to note the passing of Donald Lee Nelson, a member of the vaunted "Saturday Crowd" of the Jazz Man Record Shop, who I profiled in my book on the venerable, but lamented collectors shop (1939-194). Nelson was a collector of hillbilly records and at one time had a phenomenal collection. It had been sold off years before he entered an assisted living facility in Woodland Hills, Calif. 
Donald Lee (nobody called him Don) wrote a series of thoughtful and well-researched articles on event ballads of the 1920s (published in the JEMF Quarterly) and often took trips to Appalachia and the South to interview members of old-time string bands, including people like Emry Arthur and Lee Allen of the Allen Brothers and pioneering Cajun performer Moise Robin. He did a great job researching the life of Buddy Jones for an early Texas Rose LP I produced and was fascinated by the life and personae of Louisiana scoundrels like Jimmie Davis and Huey Long. In fact, when Nelson put on a straw boater, he looked remarkably like the Kingfish. 
One time, on one of my own field expeditions to East Texas, Nelson had asked me to see if I could track down the gravesite of Prince Albert Hunt. I finally found it, with the name "Archie A. Hunt" inscribed on the tombstone - I've never seen Nelson happier than when I made him a copy of the picture of the stone that I took. He loved tromping around graveyards looking for musicians. I got infected by that bug when I sought out Leon Chappelear's final resting place near Shreveport, Louisiana (a photo of it is in my CD reissue of Chappelear's music). 
Nelson taught me the basics of cooking 'country style.' He worked as a sommelier and buyer at the restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel, so I learned about the finer methods of cooking as well as the ones favored by the folk. He was a great friend and vastly improved our knowledge of early country music. 
A fine Southern gentleman, Donald Lee Nelson was 71. 
Requiescat in pace

Cary Ginell