Interview with steel guitarist Aubrey Ghent and his father Henry Nelson

Guitarist

Singers

Fieldwork

Steel guitars

Guitar music

Performing arts

Guitarists

Music performance

African Americans

Religious songs

Religious music

Gospel songs

Gospel musicians

Gospel (Black)

Personal experience narratives

Interviews

Oral histories

Life histories

Oral history

Protestants

Christianity

Churches

Religion

Musicians

Four audio cassette recordings. Recorded at Nelson's sister's house (Mary Linzy) in Ocala. Ghent and Nelson discuss the origins of the Sacred Steel tradition, early influences (e.g. Troman and Willie Eason), the House of God tradition, and playing styles. The Sacred Steel Guitar Recording Project originated in 1992 when Florida Folklife Program folklorist Robert Stone discovered that several predominantly African American House of God churches (a sub-sect of the Pentecostal church) in the St. Petersburg area were using steel guitars in their religious services. The practice began by Willie and Troman Eason in the 1930s, and expanded upon by players such as Henry Nelson and Lorenzo Harrison. Realizing that this was a unique musical tradition, labeled Sacred Steel, the Florida Folklife Program to applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to conduct fieldwork and create a music album for public dispersal. The aim of the project was to increase public awareness of the gospel steel guitar tradition, as well as document it for future generations. Matched with state funds, the grant period originally ran from October 1993 through October 1994, but was extended for another year. In that time Stone, along with sound engineers William Dudley and Mike Stapleton, interviewed and recorded several steel guitarists in the St. Petersburg area. An album entitled Sacred Steel was released in 1995. It was then re-released through an agreement with Arhoolie Records in 1997.

State Archives of Florida, Series S2044

1993-11-26

Florida Folklife Program

Ocala House of God Church #2 (Ocala, Fla.)

sound recordings

audiocassettes

Sound

a_s2044_02_tape12

S2044

2

Tape 12

Tape 13

Tape 14

Tape 15

Sacred Steel Guitar Recording Project

Stone, Robert, 1944-

Dupree, Sherry, 1946-

Dupree, Herbert

Ghent, Aubrey, 1958-

Nelson, Henry, 1930-2001

African American

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/collections/folklife/folklife-mp3/s2044/s2044_box02_tape12.mp3

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/collections/folklife/folklife-mp3/s2044/s2044_box02_tape13.mp3

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/collections/folklife/folklife-mp3/s2044/s2044_box02_tape14.mp3

http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/memory/collections/folklife/folklife-mp3/s2044/s2044_box02_tape15.mp3

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