Alan (Son of John) Lomax’ entire field-recordings back catalogue now made freely available on the web!
http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp
What’s your favourite?
Alan (Son of John) Lomax’ entire field-recordings back catalogue now made freely available on the web!
http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp
What’s your favourite?
Good call williamsbach!
I think it may take a few lifetimes to get through the entire contents, but the first thing I’ve listened to is a Blues improvisation (N11R09) by Son House Bukka White and Skip James from the Newport Festival in 1966 which is great.
Well, he discovered, among others, Mississippi Fred McDowell, there are quite a few recordings of him on there. Going through this is a lifetime project!
Well done you!
Hadn’t reached that one yet. Particularly nice, I’d say! Great tone…
Well, so far either the throat singing or , for title alone “Pig castrator’s song” ( a curiously jaunty little pan pipe tune).
Thanks for the link.
I shall be lost for days .
Yep, there’s a fair few Pairubu-style cock-eyed off-centre wierdnesses therein; clearly Mr Lomax was unconcerned at whom he waved his equipment, the hussy.
Glad you’re enjoying a good rummage.
WB et al; Let me just say that if any of you ever decide that divorce is the answer, make sure that you take your records when you leave! Back in about 1970 I went through that process and didn’t think to take my vinyl collection, it contained two Lomax albums that I’d bought in the late 40′s, Blues in the Mississippi Night and Negro Prison Songs, both I believe on Tradition or Folkways and neither of which were replaceable until recently. So it was a huge pleasant surprise to click on WB’s link and there was Blues in the Mississippi Night and Negro Prison Songs available for playing; man did those bring back memories, memories of songs I hadn’t heard for 40 years! ‘Mississippi Night’ features Big Bill Broonzy, that was how I discovered him, he became my favorite blues artist. I saw him live several times in the UK in the 50′s and even had the pleasure of taking him out to dinner after a show in Ipswich; a wonderful man and possibly the most dynamic person I’ve ever seen at a mic, he was riveting! Also on that album were two other blues artists that started me on a lifelong love of the blues; Memphis Slim and Sonny Boy Williamson. That album more than anything else triggered an interest in blues music for me that’s lasted all my life.
A couple of years ago a biography of Alan Lomax by John Swed came out, it’s on my living room table right now, here’s the NY Times review;
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/books/31book.html
Here’s a couple from an early Folkways album of Big Bill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zveyr3gT9WE&feature=related
Excellent sharing WB!