The songs Workman had inherited from his grandfather included versions of many
Child Ballads, such as "
Young Beichan", "
Young Hunting", "
Edward", "
Little Musgrave", "
Sir Lionel", "
The Wife of Usher's Well", "
The Farmer's Curst Wife", "
Barbara Allen", "
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" and "
The House Carpenter". Following his retirement as a miner he became known as a folk singer, with frequent performances around Appalachia as well as the
Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the
1982 World's Fair. He recorded two albums:
Passing Thru the Garden, with his daughter
Phyllis Boyens, which was released by June Appal Recordings in 1975; and ''Mother Jones' Will'' on the
Rounder Records label in 1978. In addition, he contributed songs to several albums of traditional and coal mining music. Workman was filmed by the famous archivist and
ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. He was also the subject of the documentary
Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category, produced by
Appalshop Films, and appeared as himself in the documentaries
Harlan County, USA,
Chase the Devil: Religious Music of the Appalachians, and
The Grand Generation. He is heard leading the singing of "Amazing Grace" in the funeral scene in ''
Coal Miner's Daughter'', which also featured Phyllis Boyens as
Loretta Lynn's mother. Workman was a recipient of a 1986
National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the
National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. He spent most of his life in
Chattaroy, West Virginia, though in later years he lived in
Mascot, Tennessee. He died in
Knoxville, Tennessee in 1994 at the age of 99. ==Discography==