Tellin' it like it is

KATE KELLY

For the Frontiersman

Although he doesn't consider himself "the real McCoy" when it comes to famous poets and songwriters, he attributes his storytelling abilities to a real Hatfield in his family - his grandmother, Elizabeth Hatfield Cooper, the youngest of the West Virginia Hatfields.

"I have fond recollections of my grandmother telling about the old feuds between the Hatfields and the McCoys," said Wasilla resident Hank Nelson, who recently returned from trips to Washington, D.C., and Washington state parks, where he performed his logger poetry and songs for a variety of audiences. "My grandmother was also a good singer and could make a harmonica sound just like a freight train. She could also yodel up a storm."

At age 71, the part-time Mat-Su school bus driver still appreciates the simple pleasures of being with his wife of 26 years, Patty, seeing his grandchildren walk up to his door and sitting on the porch with a loyal pet.

But there's nothing like being on stage and sharing his love of logger lore with anyone who will listen.

"I enjoy my home and my wife, of course, but I live for the next show. I want to do six shows a year," Nelson said Sunday, dressed in his performing attire of worn-out working boots, baggy jeans with a red "crying rag" hanging out the back pocket, a faded plaid shirt, large green suspenders adorned with souvenir buttons from past shows and his floppy mountain hat. "I've waited all my life to get where I'm at, so I can tell you it's never too late to realize your life-long dreams."

What first started with winning an essay contest on soil conservation in the eighth-grade and gained fuel from emulating literary heroes like Robert Service and singing loggers like Buzz Martin and Les Looney has now blossomed into a style all Nelson's own, which will soon be captured on a compact disc titled "Old Dogs, Old Cats & Old Lumberjacks."

The CD will be a collection of his favorite songs from three cassette tapes he previously recorded, and are a blend of bluegrass, gospel, and country-western, woods-oriented music. He said he is dedicating the CD to the hard-working men and women of the forest resource industry, and the foresters who plant trees, fight forest fires and protect the land for future generations.

Although he said he doesn't like to be political, some of his songs and poems - such as one titled "Surplus Owl" - hit on controversial topics. Most of his work, however, centers on the hard life of the timber logger, a life he knew first-hand for more than 30 years in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

Nelson was just the sort of person Dr. Jens Lund of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission was looking for when he was putting together a poetry gathering and placed an ad in a logging magazine back in 1986.

Since then, Nelson has performed at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev.; the Cooper Union in New York City from the same stage where presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln made his Cooper Union Address in 1860; Seattle's Northwest Folklife Festival and recently at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival "Forest Service, Culture, and Community," and at the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Arts and Trails series at Beacon Rock State Park in Washington.

"He's certainly gotten better and written a lot of great stuff," Lund said of Nelson from his Washington Parks office last week. "His repertoire, his delivery and his authenticism are great. A lot of people are impressed by his sincerity and sense of humor."

Nelson, who also drove tour buses for Princess Cruises in Alaska a few years ago, has survived the Korean War, a near-fatal logging accident when an old cedar fell on him, and heatstroke when his wool logging shirt got the best of him during one of his recent performances on a 90-degree day.

But death doesn't seem to be something he's particularly afraid of because he sings about life "on the other side" with a peace that can be hard to come by.

In his song "Smile High Canyon," Nelson envisions a place "of my favorite dreams. Way up there in the land of the bear, the glaciers, valleys and streams. Someday I'll retire and sit by the ol' fire an' rest these tired ol' bones. Can't wait till I tramp to that last logging camp some wheres just south of the pole."

He also has great respect for those who have already gone there and often pays tribute to them in his performances either by singing their songs or writing songs about them.

The song "The Old Bunkhouse Tonight" was written in memory of his uncle, Fred Cooper, who worked in logging camps for more than 40 years and was a father figure to Nelson. Nelson said he never knew his biological father, but wrote the song "Curly Joe" in his honor, as well.

"I will be forever grateful to my Uncle Fred for introducing me to the woods," Nelson said, closing his eyes to picture him more clearly. "It is a life I love and have never regretted."

He also will never regret pursuing his love of music and writing and thanks all those in his life who helped inspire and encourage him.

He hopes he will be an inspiration to others who have yet to realize their dreams. "I can remember when I was a very shy 13-year-old boy who had such low self esteem I couldn't look people in the eye," he said, recalling the first time an adult treated him like more of a person than simply a young boy by holding a door open for him and addressing him by his last name. "I'm a totally different person now because of those who had faith in me and showed me respect. "I know I'll never make it to the top, but I have found a niche, and I enjoy what I'm doing. I know there are others out there with similar talent who have yet to be discovered," Nelson said.