Margaret J Nelson

About the Artist:

I am 67 years old, a singer of traditional English and North American songs and ballads. I traveled and recorded from 1982 to 2010 with folk guitarist Phil Cooper in the Cooper & Nelson folk duo; the Cooper, Nelson & Early folk trio; and The More The Merrier Christmas band. (I still travel in November and December with Phil, Susan Urban, and Kate Early as the Bittersweet Christmas Band.) I am also a songwriter. Two of my songs, "Let Peace Prevail" and "Call Down a Blessing" have been recorded by other bands; two more, "Middle Age Love" and "Ain't Gonna Hate My Neighbor" were included in Oasis radio samplers. I am a past Board President of the Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM), and the author of the open source document "On Your Own Nickel: How to Record Without Going Broke", which started as the notes for a workshop Phil and I presented at FARM and at two international Folk Alliance conferences.

In addition to my music activities, I work as an art model (1967-present); a puppet maker (1979-present); and a teacher of puppet making (1984-present). I taught puppet making for twenty years at Fox Valley Folk Festival, and have also taught at New England Folk Festival, Augusta Heritage Vocal Week, Old Songs Festival, Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, and Milwaukee Irish Festival School.