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The southern journey of Alan Lomax : words, photographs, and music

by Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002,

Format: Print Book 2013
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Main Library Second Floor - Music - Open Stacks ML87.L66 2013
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  Second Floor - Music - Open Stacks
 
Call Number  ML87.L66 2013
 
 

Summary
More than fifty years ago, on a trip dubbed "the Southern Journey," Alan Lomax visited Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee, uncovering the little-known southern backcountry and blues music that we now consider uniquely American. Lomax's camera was a constant companion, and his images of both legendary and anonymous folk musicians complement his famous field recordings.



These photographs--largely unpublished--show musicians making music with family and friends at home, with fellow worshippers at church, and alongside workers and prisoners in the fields. Discussions of Lomax's life and career by his disciple and lauded folklorist William Ferris, and a lyrical look at Lomax's photographs by novelist and Grammy Award-winning music writer Tom Piazza, enrich this valuable collection.
Contents
Bonus disc. Church, I know we got another building (not made with hands) (Young Bros.)
Dollar Mamie (Floyd Batts & prisoners)
Lonely tombs (Texas Gladden, Hobart Smith & Preston Smith)
Didn't old Pharoah get lost (Union Choir of the Church of God and Saints of Christ)
Rainbow mid life's willows (Almeda Riddle)
I'm going down that gravel (Fred McDowell)
The girl I left behind (Spencer Moore)
Riding in a buggy/Candy gal (Vera Ward Hall)
Cumberland Gap (Wade Ward)
Reg'lar, reg'lar, rolling under (Bessie Jones & group)
Poor pilgrim of sorrow (I.D. Back)
I'm gonna live anyhow until I die (Miles & Bob Pratcher).
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "In the summer of 1959, folklorist Lomax traveled to the South to collect the music distinctive of the region that contributed greatly to broader American culture. This was ground he'd covered in the 1930s with his father, also a folklore collector, as they lugged around a 300-pound recorder. This time, Lomax was hoping to capture American folklore as embodied in music before it was commercialized beyond recognition. His earlier efforts had made famous such artists as Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) and the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Lomax took his camera along to record the lives as well as the music of those in work camps, prisons, and communities throughout the South. Award-winning Piazza now presents photographs taken during the journey, depicting farm auctions, prison work gangs, church revivals, humble homes, ordinary people, and musicians. Piazza's accompanying essay chronicles Lomax's deep roots in the South and his collaborations with Zora Neale Hurston, Jon Work, and others in collecting folk music. An accompanying CD features many of the musicians Lomax recorded, making for a rich celebration of Southern folk music.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "This multimedia release contains some of folk documentarian Lomax's iconic work alongside a wealth of previously unreleased material. Lomax traveled the world, most notably the American South, meeting unknown singers and musicians and recording their performances. He began this work as a teenager, traveling with his father to Southern penitentiaries in the 1930's and recording the prisoners' work songs. In 1959, Lomax began a long tour of the South called the "Southern Journey" where he recorded Almeda Riddle, Fred McDowell, and members of the Memphis Jug Band, among others. Following the tour, he was hired as music supervisor for the film Music of Williamsburg, about life in Colonial Williamsburg, and hired many of his discoveries to perform in it. He is credited with discovering Muddy Waters and, with his father, John A. Lomax, Huddie Ledbetter. Lomax's photography is collected here, mostly in black and white, and Piazza (City of Refuge) aptly notes that the photographs capture "a world rife with poverty and racism.that had developed precious and vulnerable cultural strategies for transmuting pain and travail into beauty." The book also comes with a cd featuring 12 tracks Lomax recorded during the Southern Journey to complete a volume indispensable for fans of Lomax's work. (Dec) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."

Additional Information
Subjects Lomax, Alan, -- 1915-2002.
Folk musicians -- Southern States -- Pictorial works.
Folk music -- Southern States.
Southern States -- Pictorial works.
Southern States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Pictorial works.
Publisher New York ; London :The Library of Congress in association with W.W. Norton & Company,2013
Edition First edition.
Contributors Piazza, Tom, 1955-
Language English
Description 134 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm + 1 audio disc (digital ; 4 3/4 in.)
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (page 121), discography (pages 128-130), and index.
ISBN 9780393081077 (hardcover)
0393081079 (hardcover)
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