Tracy Nelson (born in Madison, Wisconsin, on 27 December 1944) is an Americ… Read Full Bio ↴Tracy Nelson (born in Madison, Wisconsin, on 27 December 1944) is an American singer. She fronted 60s blues band Mother Earth and recorded albums in her own name and as Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson.
In her teens, Nelson sang folk music in coffeehouses and with The Fuller's Wood Singers group, and was lead singer in The Fabulous Imitations band.
In 1966, Nelson moved to San Francisco where she became part of the SF music scene . The band she fronted, Mother Earth, played the Fillmore Auditorium, sharing bills with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. It was during this period that Nelson wrote and first recorded her signature song "Down So Low" (released on the Mother Earth album "Living with the Animals") that was later covered by a number of artists including Linda Ronstadt, and Etta James. Nelson re-recorded "Down So Low" herself several times.
In the late 1960s, Nelson relocated to Nashville, where she and Mother Earth recorded the album Make A Joyful Noise and the solo effort Tracy Nelson Country. In 1974, her duet with Willie Nelson, "After the Fire is Gone," was nominated for a Grammy Award.
After a lengthy hiatus from recording in the 1980s, Nelson released several albums on the independent Rounder Records label in the 1990s. Her 1998 "Sing It!" collaboration with label-mates Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas (as Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson) garnered a second Grammy nomination.
Since the early 2000s, Nelson has recorded for various independent record labels. Other projects include a collaboration with blues-rock veterans Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel and Sam Lay (as the Chicago Blues Reunion), with Angela Strehli, Annie Sampson, and Dorothy Morrison (as the Blues Broads), and performed intermittently with Missouri band the Bel Airs and with Chicago-based Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues.
Growing up in the early 1960s, Nelson immersed herself in R&B, and later what she calls "the folk scare of the sixties." As an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin, she combined her musical passions singing folk and blues at coffeehouses and R&B at frat parties. In 1964 she went to Chicago to record her first album, Deep Are The Roots. A young harmonica player from Memphis named Charlie Musselwhite played on the album and the two would explore the city's famed south side where she met and was inspired by such legendary figures as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann and others. A short time later, Nelson moved to San Francisco and, in the midst of the era's psychedelic explosion, formed Mother Earth. After six Mother Earth albums for Mercury Records and Reprise Records, Nelson continued to record as a solo artist on various labels.
In her teens, Nelson sang folk music in coffeehouses and with The Fuller's Wood Singers group, and was lead singer in The Fabulous Imitations band.
In 1966, Nelson moved to San Francisco where she became part of the SF music scene . The band she fronted, Mother Earth, played the Fillmore Auditorium, sharing bills with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. It was during this period that Nelson wrote and first recorded her signature song "Down So Low" (released on the Mother Earth album "Living with the Animals") that was later covered by a number of artists including Linda Ronstadt, and Etta James. Nelson re-recorded "Down So Low" herself several times.
In the late 1960s, Nelson relocated to Nashville, where she and Mother Earth recorded the album Make A Joyful Noise and the solo effort Tracy Nelson Country. In 1974, her duet with Willie Nelson, "After the Fire is Gone," was nominated for a Grammy Award.
After a lengthy hiatus from recording in the 1980s, Nelson released several albums on the independent Rounder Records label in the 1990s. Her 1998 "Sing It!" collaboration with label-mates Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas (as Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas and Tracy Nelson) garnered a second Grammy nomination.
Since the early 2000s, Nelson has recorded for various independent record labels. Other projects include a collaboration with blues-rock veterans Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel and Sam Lay (as the Chicago Blues Reunion), with Angela Strehli, Annie Sampson, and Dorothy Morrison (as the Blues Broads), and performed intermittently with Missouri band the Bel Airs and with Chicago-based Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues.
Growing up in the early 1960s, Nelson immersed herself in R&B, and later what she calls "the folk scare of the sixties." As an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin, she combined her musical passions singing folk and blues at coffeehouses and R&B at frat parties. In 1964 she went to Chicago to record her first album, Deep Are The Roots. A young harmonica player from Memphis named Charlie Musselwhite played on the album and the two would explore the city's famed south side where she met and was inspired by such legendary figures as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann and others. A short time later, Nelson moved to San Francisco and, in the midst of the era's psychedelic explosion, formed Mother Earth. After six Mother Earth albums for Mercury Records and Reprise Records, Nelson continued to record as a solo artist on various labels.
Hold An Old Friends Hand
Tracy Nelson Lyrics
Another year and I'm still here
The grass just will not grow on this old hill
Still I just can't let it go,
I don't believe it's cause I'm cold
or partial to the crazy life I'm caught in
Sometimes I fell the hand of time
moving like its body was broke
and it's then I miss your sighs
and the tender words you spoke
Hey, that's okay - come on around and get yourself together
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Babe, I promise not to throw you
You don't have to stay, I just want to hold you
Won't you come on around
and hold an old friend's hand
Another year is dead and gone
The sun don't want to shine on this old hill
or anything that's mine
I don't believe it hurts to grow
even when the crop you sow is a failure
Sometimes I wish I had no pride
I'd go off and sell my soul
But how do you say goodbye
to the only truth you've known
Hey, that's okay - come on around and get yourself together
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Baby baby, I promise not to throw you
You don't have to stay, I just want to hold you
Won't you come on around
and hold an old friend's hand
Oh babe, honey everybody makes mistakes
We feel a lot of life that way
Don't you think by now I know that?
Look what's brought us both back
Now - while the leaves still dance on the wind
While the moon and the clouds come spinning
Will you whisper my name again?
Again and again and again
Hey, that's okay - come on around and get yourself together
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Around and around with you I've been
flat on the ground and up again
nobody know for sure just when
everything changes
The grass just will not grow on this old hill
Still I just can't let it go,
I don't believe it's cause I'm cold
or partial to the crazy life I'm caught in
Sometimes I fell the hand of time
moving like its body was broke
and it's then I miss your sighs
and the tender words you spoke
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Babe, I promise not to throw you
You don't have to stay, I just want to hold you
Won't you come on around
and hold an old friend's hand
Another year is dead and gone
The sun don't want to shine on this old hill
or anything that's mine
I don't believe it hurts to grow
even when the crop you sow is a failure
Sometimes I wish I had no pride
I'd go off and sell my soul
But how do you say goodbye
to the only truth you've known
Hey, that's okay - come on around and get yourself together
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Baby baby, I promise not to throw you
You don't have to stay, I just want to hold you
Won't you come on around
and hold an old friend's hand
Oh babe, honey everybody makes mistakes
We feel a lot of life that way
Don't you think by now I know that?
Look what's brought us both back
Now - while the leaves still dance on the wind
While the moon and the clouds come spinning
Will you whisper my name again?
Again and again and again
Hey, that's okay - come on around and get yourself together
Won't you come on around and hold an old friend's hand
Around and around with you I've been
flat on the ground and up again
nobody know for sure just when
everything changes
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DONNA T WEISS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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